Rose Hayden-Smith Updated 2/2008
WORLD WAR I POSTERS
The modern poster originated in the 1890s, arising out of the Art Nouveau movement in France. It quickly assumed a vital role in the emerging field of advertising. It was a natural step for posters to be used in World War I propaganda, and many of America's leading artists and illustrators designed posters for America's war effort. Probably 90% of the posters were printed through a process called color lithography, also known as chromolithography, which produced wonderful works of art that are valued collectibles today. The process of color lithography was little used for poster production after the 1930s, and there is a remarkable difference between the quality of the image (if not the content) between the posters of World War I and II.
The United States government created the Committee of Public Information (CPI) in April 1917, within a week of declaring war with Germany. The director was journalist George Creel. The CPI eventually engaged the services of hundreds of writers, artists, speakers, and scholars to promote the war effort. For the first time, modern advertising techniques were used to persuade millions of Americans to support the war and take specific actions to help the allied effort. Creel later said, "…it was a plain publicity proposition, a vast enterprise in salesmanship, the world's greatest adventure in advertising." In April of 1917, the CPI, in conjunction with the Society of Illustrators, formed the Division of Pictorial Publicity (DPP) of the CPI. Different departments of the government sent their requests to the CPI, and some of America's most talented and highly paid artists and writers – all of them donating their time - produced posters for government agencies. In the twenty months of its existence, the DPP submitted 700 posters designs to 58 government departments, in addition to producing hundreds of bus and trolley posters, advertisements, cartoons, and banners
In addition to the nationally distributed posters featured on this website, there were hundreds of regional and local posters produced during the war. These kinds of posters are found less frequently, and the artists who produced them are generally not well known. An excellent commercial source for learning more about these posters is www.miscman.com
In recent years, numerous war poster reproductions have become available via the internet. These reproductions are typically created using a halftone process based on photographing the original poster. Reproduction images are quite different from the original lithographic images that have so captivated American's for more than ninety years.
Developed by Rose Hayden-Smith, University of California.
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