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The Art of World War One Posters
The Art of World War One Posters
On the sixth floor of West Virginia University’s Downtown Library is the West Virginia & Regional History Center. It contains archives—collections of historical documents or records providing information about a place, institution, or group of people—detailing the lives and experiences of West Virginians in the past. During my class’s visit there, Dr. Miriam Cady specifically showed us archives from World War 1. Some were newspapers, others were letters, but I was drawn by the three posters discussed in this essay. As someone passionate not only about history, but about art, too, the posters conveyed so much more to me than anything else did. Everything from its font to its art style contained a message, and held a purpose as part of the whole.
The first poster, “Back Our Girls Over There”, was made for the United War Work Campaign and the Young Women’s Christian Association, by Clarence Underwood in 1918. When first looked at, its lighting is very noticeable; it is from the soldiers who are fighting outside, but inside, the lighting is hitting the subject softly. The whole art style and color scheme of the painting is very delicate, soft, and refined; one could say it is feminine, as is the subject herself. The poster depicts a woman, working in a room, holding a grave facial expression, showing responsibility, and maternity. Her face is reminiscent of the depictions of Greek goddesses and women in the Renaissance era. While she does hold a purpose, a duty, she is still safely on the sidelines, being protected by the men while she helps them. It is representative of the societal values from back then, which were that while the woman stayed at home, taking care of the household, and the family, the man provided for by working outside of the home. The woman is removed from the action in the background, but still active in her support of the soldiers and the war effort.
This poster is both pushing for the idea of women holding working positions, and at the same time perhaps holding them back. “Our girls” was an interesting phrasing; “our” seems as though it conveyed possessiveness and ownership over these, as the poster calls them, “girls,” not women, which sounds diminutive. However, it is for the Young Women’s Christian Association, so it could be conveying a feminist message talking to other women, in which case, “our girls”, would not have a negative connotation. Overall, however, the message creates a sense of unity by calling them “our.” They are ours and as such, it is our duty to help them help the soldiers overseas.
The second poster, “Come on! Buy More Liberty Bonds,” was painted for the Liberty Bonds Campaign in 1918 by Walter White. It was at first glance a stark contrast from the previous advertisement; it is harsh, made with a dark color scheme, and very action packed, while “Back our girls over there” was a somewhat serene image. However, if looked upon more closely, the painting resembles the other in that both are trying to advertise through gender norms and societal values. The first had the woman, delicately painted, safe from the turmoil of war and portrayed a beautiful feminine sight, while the men behind her were at war. The second poster, on the other hand, with its robust, aggressive tone seemed stereotypically “masculine.”
The painting looks rushed due to the quick, messy strokes that leave paint unblended, and it creates a sense of urgency. “LIBERTY BONDS,” is bold, in uppercase and bright red, and shocking to the eye. There is a soldier in the middle of the battlefield, holding a weapon with a body behind him, and yet despite all of this, he is looking directly at us. Ordering the viewer to buy more liberty bonds, because if they do not he might not survive. Even the “Come On!” beside the man’s head looks like a text bubble that one would see in a comic book and makes the message seem that much more direct. All of this guilts the viewer into wanting to buy liberty bonds, because the soldier might not survive if they do not buy bonds. This whole scene is very cinematic from the angle to the color scheme, and it could easily be compared to dramatic action films from recent times.
The last poster is “Keep ’em smiling! Help war camp community service,” and it is for the United War Work Campaign by M. Leone Bracker in 1918. The main message that stands out in the piece is in the title itself: community. There are three soldiers standing close and holding each other, depicting solidarity and brotherhood; not only that, they are smiling at the audience, creating a close, intimate relationship with us. We are the same as them, in their community, smiling at each other on the same level and this creates a sense of union. At the bottom of the poster, it reads “Morale is winning the war.” The poster conveys that “we” want the soldiers to continue to be as happy and as enthusiastic as they are in the poster not only because it will help us win the war, but because we want them to win after having felt this connection to them. They are happy with us, which is positive encouragement.
In terms of the art style, the group is drawn as a sketch, which is a simple, basic art technique and this expresses humility and need; they do not have much, but they are down to earth and happy, and do not expect anything from you, though you can still definitely help if you would like. The tone is very passive through the blue, rounded font and the relaxed facial expressions.
I found that I developed several questions while researching and analyzing these sources. While I knew perfectly well how I felt about these advertisements, I wondered how people felt about them at the time. Was public opinion positive or negative and what would their explanations and analysis be? Along with that, would the format of these ads work on people from today if there was to be a war or a similar situation, and why or why not? A follow up question was how efficient these formats of media were. Did they improve or falter the number of donations brought in and the selling of liberty bonds?
The experience of visiting and analyzing the archives was a memorable one. While at first I felt somewhat lost surrounded by all the information presented, I quickly found my footing, and once I took a look at the posters, I sat down and went to work feeling inspired, prepared, and more than happy to write this. My professor and Dr. Miriam Cady both talked to all of us, answered and asked questions, and I found their commentary on the pieces I chose to be rather useful and helpful.
I have felt this way before, but seeing all these pieces of information from the past reminded me yet again of how connected we are to the generations before us; the ground that you step on has been stepped on by people that may have already passed away long ago. The dirt and the rocks may not be the same, but people from the past have gone down the same paths as us, and it is a strange, gnawing feeling that time stretches way more than we normally believe it does. We cannot go back in time, nor can people travel to the future, but archives are like windows into the past, allowing us to stretch or reach towards times when our forefathers had not even existed yet.
Works Cited
Mazzella, Diana. "The Soldiers of World War I," WVU Magazine, 29 November 2018, https://magazine.wvu.edu/stories/2018/11/29/flashback-the-soldiers-of-world-war-i
World War I Posters, A&M 1957, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia. https://archives.lib.wvu.edu/repositories/2/resources/5677
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