World War I art sought to sway opinion
The U.S. had been neutral, but by this time the country’s involvement was inevitable. Artists were called upon to design posters to help raise both money and support for the effort. Charles Dana Gibson, the famous artist associated with illustrations of modern, athletic young women (known as Gibson girls), led the federal government's division of pictorial publicity, part of the Committee on Public Information, according to the Library of Congress.
Gibson’s division focused on art to promote “recruitment, bond drives, home front service, troop support, and camp libraries,” the library recounts. Gibson was quoted as telling artists to “draw 'til it hurts.” And they did. During a two-year period, 300 artists produced more than 1,400 designs, including some 700 posters.
The Library of Congress has an exhibition on this art in the Graphic Arts Galleries, Ground Floor, Thomas Jefferson Building that closes Aug. 19.
America sleeps as storm clouds form in this 1917 poster by James Montgomery Flagg.
In this 1917 Life illustration, famed illustrator Charles Dana Gibson depicts a mourning woman harassed by a German soldier as a frustrated Uncle Sam watches. The illustration was published three months before Congress declared war on Germany.
Artists even focused on low literacy rates among soldiers. This 1917 poster by Charles Buckles Falls encouraged soldiers to read.
This 1917 illustration by John Norton shows bloodstained German boots (the insignia is the German imperial eagle). It ran on a poster over the words: "Keep These Off the U.S.A. -- Buy More Liberty Bonds."
One of the few female artists called upon, Eugenie De Land delivered this Liberty Bond poster in 1917.
