Posters of WWI and More at the Huntington

I roamed around the Huntington Gardens, Library and Galleries on Wednesday and headed first to the West end of the Library building to view "Your Country Calls! Posters of the First World War."  The exhibit marks 100 years since the start of WWI in August of 1914.  The exhibit description states that war took the lives of about 9 million combatants with more than 70 million military personnel in battle between England, France and eventually the United States on one side and Germany, Austria-Hungry, and the Ottoman Empire on the other.  The exhibit displays vintage posters created to shape and influence national identity, build unity across international borders and mobilize citizens into action for the collective effort to win the war.  The posters are from the Huntington collection.

Here are my photos of some of the posters that I found most interesting:

"Juan of Arc Saved France," 1918 by William Haskell Coffin, 1878-1941, U.S., The United States printing & Lithograph Co.  The poster symbolized the power of women in action such as suffrage and in the war effort.

"Le Cardinal Mercier protege la Belgique," 1916 by Dominique Carles Fouqueray, 1869-1956, Belgium.  The Cardinal, 1851-1926 was considered a beacon of light against a background of dark despair.  Germany invaded neutral Belgium in 1914.  The Cardinal symbolized resistance to German occupation in Belgium and across Europe.

"Take Up the Sword of Justice," 1916 by John Bernard Partridge, 1861-1945, Great Britain, David Allen & Sons Lit.
The poster shows Britannia ready for war and shows the sinking of the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania by a German U-boat in May 1915.

"I Want You For U.S. Army."  1917 by James Montgomery Flagg, 1877-1960, U.S.
The famous Uncle Sam recruitment poster pointing his finger at YOU.

"Wake Up, America!" 1917 by James Montgomery Flagg, 1877-1960, U.S., The Hegeman Print

• A sleeping Columbia symbolizes America in 1917, unsuspecting, uncaring and uninvolved.  "Having just declared war, the nation issued a clarion call for 'every man, woman, and child' to wake up and save civilization"

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"Gee, I Wish I Were a Man," 1918 by Howard Chandler Christy, 1873-1952, U.S., U.S Navy Publicity Bureau

"The Empire Needs Men!" 1915, by Arthur Wardle, 1860-1949, Great Britain, Straker Brothers.  The Empire lead by Great Britain, the mature lion and the four dominions that initially volunteered: Canada, India Australia, and New Zealand.

"U.S. Navy," 1917 by Charles Dana Gibson, 1867-1944, U.W., U.S. Navy Publicity Bureau.  Here a mother expresses her fear and sorrow over sending her son to war but sacrificing for Uncle Sam.

"One last effort and we will win," 1918 by Eugene Courboin, 1851-1915 French.
The image of the U.S. soldier is perplexing for the artist died in 1915, three years before this poster was issued and prior to American military involvement...perhaps the American reference was added after the artist's death.

"Look After My Folks," 1917 by Frank Brangwyn, 1867-1956, U.S., American Lithograph Co.
The sailors cry sums up the mission of the Navy Relief Society, begun in 1904 to improve benefits for servicement and extended coverage to their families and survivors.  The society offered interest-free emergency loans during the war to fill gaps caused by late paychecks.

"And you?" 1917 by Alfred Roller, 1864-1935, Austria-Hungary, Gessellschaft fur Graphische Indusgtrie.
"A simple question becomes a probing inquiry about duty and honor.  A soldier with a haunted expression implicitly demands 'What are you doing for your country?"

"Every Girl Pulling for Victory," 1918 by Edward Penfield, 1866-1925, U.S.
This poster was the slogan for the "Earn and Give Victory Girls campaign in November 1918.  The goal was to get pledges from at least one million women to ear and give five dollars toward morale programs for returning U.S. troops.

I also walked through the Virginia Steele Scott gallery to look at some new acquisitions and visit some of my favorite paintings.  Here are my photos of those I enjoyed:

"Le Foret (or Serenade)," 1918 by Joseph Stella, 1877-1946, pastel o paper.  Stella was born near Naples, Italy and arrived in New York in 1896 and studied under William Merritt Chase.  He returned to Europe and met Gertrude Stein who introduced him to many European Modernist artists.

"Black Youth," 1938 by John Steuart Curry, 1897-1946.  Curry was a Regionalist artist that rejected European Modernism and focused on figurative artwork about rural American life.  He executed murals for the Works Progress Administration during the depression.  A mural for the Kansas State Capitol was never completed due to criticism of the mural subjects including the abolitionist John Brown.  This watercolor may have been a study for this mural commission.

"Fillette au Grand Chapeau," 1908 by Mary Cassatt, 1844-1926, pastel (a powdery, chalky medium mixed with a binder) on paper.

"The Locomotive," 1935 by Reginald Marsh, 1898-1854, tempera on concrete plaster.  This painting was completed in preparation for a commission Marsh received to paint two murals for the Post Office Building in Washington, DC.

"Sea Sprite," 1967 by John Svenson, born 1923, Redwood.

"Worker and Machine," 1928 by Hugo Gellert, 1892-1985.  The heroic factory worker is shown.

"State Fair," 1929 by John Steuart Curry, 1897-1946.  The painting is of the Kansas State Fair.

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"Lattice and Awning," 1941 by Arthur Dove.  Dove is credited with making the first fully nonrepresentational painting in this country in 1910 working according to Dove "at the point where abstraction and reality meet."

"The Butcher Shop," 1940 by Alexander Zerdin Kruse, 1888-1972.  Kruse painted scenes of New York's lower East Side where he grew up as a son to Jewish immigrants.

"McSorley's Cats,' 1929 by John Sloan, 1871-1951.  The painting is of McSorley's Old Ale House in New York City.  Artist Alexander Kruse (previous painting) leans on the bar, holding a cane while the proprietor, Bill McSorley, opens the icebox to feed his cats ground bull's liver.  Sloan began his career as a magazine illustrator including Harper's Weekly.

"Untitled," 1979-2003 by Sam Francis, 1923-1994. Corten steel

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