I Want You (Leslie-Judge Co.,1917)...

Description

I Want You (Leslie-Judge Co.,1917) WW I Poster (30" X 40"). Originally published as a magazine cover with the title "What Are You Doing for Preparedness?" this portrait of "Uncle Sam" went on to become, according to its creator James Montgomery Flagg, the most famous poster in the world. To quote from American Posters of World War I by George Theofiles (considered the leading expert on the topic); "James Montgomery Flagg had first submitted drawings to St. Nicholas Magazine, a children's periodical, in 1899 when he was 12 years old. By the time he was 14 he was doing illustrations for Life. His greatest public triumph was to become "I Want You For U.S. Army", a poster he posed for himself with an idea lifted from a slightly early British recruiting poster, "Your Country Needs You" by Alfred Leete. Flagg's rendering was originally used on a Leslie's Magazine cover in late 1916 and was quickly adopted by the army when the war broke out. All told, nearly 5 million were printed in both world wars. During the first war, he produced nearly 30 different posters for everyone from the Red Star Animal Relief League to the Department of the Navy, but his Uncle Sam will always be his best known and most often copied." It is amazing to think of the huge quantity of posters printed and the few examples that have survived, but as Theofiles points out, these posters were meant to be used and they were put up in massive quantities around the country. Of course, this image has gone on to be used in thousands of ad campaigns, political cartoons and such other visual venues as Mad Magazine and yes, even anti-war posters. Very Fine+ condition on Linen.

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