As the United States entered World War One in April of 1917, the government tasked artists with creating posters encouraging Americans to embrace the "Great War."
New York became a hub for wartime inspired art and propaganda with artists conceiving posters meant to evoke varying emotions ranging from love of country to fear of the enemy. An estimated 20 million copies of over 2,500 posters were dispersed across the country and helped establish a now-classic "American" artistic aesthetic.
Currently on display at the Museum of the City of New York is Posters and Patriotism: Selling WWI in New York, an exhibit offering more than 60 examples of wartime art from the Museum's collection, many of the illustrations on public display for the first time. The show examines the rhetoric present as the United States entered the First World War and the common themes that emerge in America during times of conflict: patriotism, nationalism, freedom of expression and xenophobia.
Here, a selection of posters from the exhibition, which will open through October 9, 2017:
Unknown artist, To-day buy that Liberty Bond, c. 1917
Museum of the City of New York, gift of Mr. John W. Campbell
Heywood, Strasser & Voight Litho Co. (New York, N.Y.), Remember! The Flag of Liberty Support It!, 1918
Museum of the City of New York, gift of Mr. John W. Campbell
Howard Chandler Christy (1872-1952), Clear the Way!!, c. 1917
Museum of the City of New York, gift of Mr. John W. Campbell
Herman Roeg, Help the Red Cross, 1918
Museum of the City of New York, gift of Mr. John W. Campbell
Ethel Franklin Betts Bains (1877-1959), Lest We Perish, 1917-18
Museum of the City of New York, gift of Mr. John W. Campbell
Adolph Treidler (1886-1981), For Every Fighter a Woman Worker, c. 1918
Museum of the City of New York, gift of Mr. John W. Campbell
Edward Penfield (1866-1925), Every Girl Pulling for Victory, 1918
Museum of the City of New York, gift of Mr. John W. Campbell
James Montgomery Flagg (1877-1960), I Want You for U.S. Army, c. 1917
Museum of the City of New York, gift of Mr. John W. Campbell
Fred Spear, Enlist,1915
Museum of the City of New York, gift of Mr. John W. Campbell
August William Hutaf (1879-1942), Treat 'em Rough, c. 1918
Museum of the City of New York, gift of Mr. John W. Campbell
Josef Foshko (1891-1971), Jewish Welfare Board, c. 1917
Museum of the City of New York, gift of Mr. John W. Campbell
Achille Mauzan (1883-1952), Per la Liberazione sottoscrivete! (For Liberation subscribe to the National Loan!), 1918
Museum of the City of New York, gift of Mr. John W. Campbell
