ART & ARTISTS: 2024-10-27

During World War 1 the impact of the poster as a means of communication was greater than at any other time during history. The ability of poster to inspire, inform, and persuade combined with vibrant design trends in many of the participating countries to produce thousands of interesting visual works. As a valuable historical research resource, the posters provide multiple points of view for understanding this global conflict. As artistic works, the posters range in style form graphically vibrant works by well-known designers to anonymous ones.

Library of Congress, Washington D.C.

This is Part 2 of a 10-part series on WW1 posters:

1914-15 Spendet Liebes - gaben (Donate love gifts)
artist Lina von Schauroth (1874-1970 Germany)

1915 Helft Unseren Kriegsgefangenen in Feindesland
(Help Our Prisoners of War in Enemy Countries)
artist Lina von Schauroth

1917 Kaiser u Volksdank für Heer und Flotte
(The Kaiser and People's Thanks for the Army and Fleet)
artist Lina von Schauroth

Edgar James Kealey (1887-1977) was a poster designer and illustrator born in Middlesbrough the son of a newspaper advertising manager. Details of Kealey's art education are not known but he was active from c. 1914 until the 1930's.

c1914 "Fall In"
Answer now in your country's hour of need
artist Edgar James Kealey (1887-1977)

1914c Follow Me!
Your Country Needs You
artist Edgar James Kealey

1915 Women of Britain say 'Go!'
Published by the Parliamentary Recruitment Committee
artist Edgar James Kealey

c1914 Public Schools Brigade
Royal Fusiliers, 118th Infantry Brigade
artist John Hassall

n.d. National Relief Fund
Two Ways of Fighting
artist John Hassall (UK)

1915 "La Marseillaise"
artist Jacques Carlu (France)

1918 Par la Retour du Soldat Vainqueur
(For the Return of the Victorious Soldier)
artist Jacques Carlu (France)

John Savile Lumley (1876–1960) was a prolific English book illustrator, and poster designer. He was born in London in 1876 and attended the Royal Academy of Arts July 1893 to July 1898.

During WW1 Lumley was approached by printer Arthur Gunn with an idea for a new army recruitment poster, the now well known “Daddy, what did You do in the Great War? According to Gunn's son, Lumley worked on a sketch of the idea before presenting the idea to the proposal to the British Parliamentary Recruiting Committee who subsequently commissioned it in 1915.

1915 4th City of London Battalion Royal Fusiliers
artist John Savile Lumley

1915 Daddy. what did You do in the Great War?
artist John Savile Lumley

1915 Bert Thomas (Herbert Samuel Thomas MBE)

Herbert Samuel Thomas MBE was a British political cartoonist contributing to Punch magazine and the creator of well-known British propaganda posters during the First and Second World Wars. Thomas joined Punch in 1905 and contributed until 1935. During the First World War he was in the Artists Rifles.

Thomas' political cartoons started to be included in gallery exhibitions as artistic caricatures as early as 1913, in an exhibition on the Strand by the Society of Humorous Art and in 1916 his cartoon against the Clyde strikers with the Kaiser saying "pass friend" to a striker was a featured exhibit in an exhibition of war cartoons in the Graves Galleries on Pall Mall.

In 1918 he became nationally known for his cartoon "Arf a mo, Kaiser", drawn in ten minutes for the Smokes for Tommy Weekly Dispatch campaign. The cartoon raised nearly a quarter of a million pounds towards "comforts" (tobacco and cigarettes) for front line troops and the image was re-drawn and used during the Second World War with the caption "Arf a mo, 'itler". The Germans banned the "Arf a mo, 'itler" cartoon and to ensure British prisoners did not have their comfort parcels confiscated, he created a variation with the caption "Are we downhearted?” He was made MBE in the 1918 Birthday Honours.

'ware Spies! "You didn't oughter Said it!
artist Bert Thomas

'ware Spies! "Keep it under your hat"
artist Bert Thomas

1914 "Arf a 'Mo' Kaiser!"
artist Bert Thomas

c1915 Men of South Africa Avenge
artist Bert Thomas

1915 War Bonds Feed the Guns!
artist Bert Thomas

1917 "Fag" Day
artist Bert Thomas

1917 Did you Buy War Bonds Today?
artist Bert Thomas

1918 Your Maxim "Buy War Bonds"
artist Bert Thomas

1918 You buy War Bonds
We do the Rest
artist Berrt Thomas

1918 For Her!
Buy War Savings Certificates
artist Bert Thomas

1918 Feed the Guns with War Bonds and Help to End the War
artist Bert Thomas

1918 Feed the Guns Campaign
artist Bert Thomas

Joan of Arc saved France
Women of Britain Save Your Country
Buy War Savings Certificates
artist Bert Thomas

1915 Line Up, Boys! Enlist To-day
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in kilts marching in step with shouldered rifles
artist W.H. Caffyn (1870-1958)

1915 Come Along Boys! Enlist To-day
artist W. H. Caffyn

1915 Comité de l'Or du Département du Rhone
artist Jean Barbier (France)

Julius Klinger (1876 – 1942) was an Austrian painter, draftsman, illustrator, commercial graphic artist, typographer and writer. Klinger studied at the Technologisches Gewerbemuseum in Vienna.

1915 Der Krieg in Wort und Bild
(The War in Words and Pictures)
artist Julius Klinger

1918 Achte Kriegsanleihe
(Eighth War Loan) Austria-Hungary
artist Julius Klinger

1915 Don't Stand Looking at This
Go and Help! (UK)

1915 Economisons le Pain en Mangeant des Pommes de Terre
(Let's Save Bread by Eating Potatoes)
artist Yvonne Vernet (aged 14, France)

1915 Enlist To-day and have it to say you helped to beat The Germans (UK)

1915 Everyone Should Do His Bit
Enlist Now
artist Baron Low

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903 USA):

1871 Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1
oil on canvas 144.3 x 162.4 cm
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
artist James McNeill Whistler

1915 fight for her
after James McNeill Whistler

1917 Old Age Must Come
War Savings Certificates
after James McNeill Whistler

Library of Congress, Washington D.C.

This is Part 1 of a 10-part series on WW1 posters:

1914 He did his duty. Will You do Yours? Field Marshal Lord Roberts was probably Britain's most famous soldier when the war broke out in 1914. He died of pneumonia at St Omer in France during a visit to Indian troops in November of that year. After lying in state in Westminster Hall, one of only two non-Royals to do so in the 20th century, the other being Winston Churchill, he was given a state funeral. Roberts had been a soldier for over 50 years and this poster appeals to recruits to follow his example of service and loyalty.

1914 He did his duty. Will YOU do YOURS?

1914 Banca Italiano di Sconto

Enrico Lione, the name chosen by Enrico Della Leonessa (1865-1921) was an Italian painter active in a Divisionist style. He was born and died in Naples. He trained and was active for many year in Rome.

1914 Banca Italiano di Sconto
artist Enrico Lionne (1865-1921 Italy)

1914 Britain Needs You At Once

1914 Britons ( Field Marshal Lord Kitchener) "Wants You"
artist: Alfred Leete

1914 Come Along Boys and Join the Army
artist W. H. Caffyn

1916 Gute Bücher, Gute Kameraden
(Good Books, Good Comrades)
artist Oswald Weise (Germany)

1914 Das Buch Giebt Freude und Trost
(The book gives joy and comfort)
artist Oswald Weise (Germany)

1914 Fikszirozzák A Feleségem!
(My Wife is Being Ogled At!)
artist Antal Weiss (Austria-Hungary)

1914 Pufi (Fatso)
artist Antal Weiss (Austria-Hungary)

1915 Kinoriport (Cinematic Reportage)
artist Antal Weiss (Austria-Hungary)

1918 Jegyezzünk Hadikölcsönt a Fabanknál!
(Subscribe to the War Loan at Fabank)
artist Antal Weiss (Austria-Hungary)

1914 Forward to Victory by Lucy Kemp Welch:

Lucy Kemp Welch

1915 Remember Scarborough, Enlist Now
artist Lucy Kemp-Welch

1914 Our Ancestors Fought For Our Freedom
published in South Africa

1914 Red Cross artist Ludwig Hohlwein (Germany 1874-1949)

Ludwig Hohlwein (1874-1949) was born in Wiesbaden, Berchtesgaden in 1874. He was a German poster artist. He was trained and practiced as an architect until 1906 when he switched to poster design.

Hohlwein's most artistically important phase was before World War II in the years 1912-1925. A large variety of his best posters dates to this period. He developed his own distinct style with sharply defined forms, bright colours and a good portion of humour. By 1925, he had already designed 3000 different advertisements.

Note: A series on the works of Ludwig Hohlwein can be found in the index of this blog.

Ludwig Hohlwein

1914 Red Cross
artist Ludwig Hohlwein (Germany)

c1918 People's Charity for German Prisoners of War
artist Ludwig Hohlwein (Germany)

1914 Remember Belgium Enlist To-day
artist unknown (U.K.)

1914 The Only Road for an Englishman

London Underground led the way among the many private organisations which published patriotic and recruiting posters during the war. Under the inspired leadership of Frank Pick, the Underground had acquired a well deserved reputation for the outstanding quality of its peacetime travel posters and now sought to apply the same principles to designing wartime notices. In 1914 Pick actually refused to display the designs of the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee on the Tube because they were 'too bad to be hung'. Instead he commissioned Frank Brangwyn and Gerald Spenser Pryse to create high quality and memorable designs to encourage commuters to enlist. From 1916 the Underground also commissioned some of the finest artists of the day to produce decorative posters for army billets and YMCA huts as 'a reminder of home.’

1914 The Only Road for an Englishman
artist Gerald Spenser Pryse (1882–1956)

1914 The Veteran's Farewell, Enlist Now!
artist Frank Dadd (1851-1929)

Keep on sending me OXO
artist Frank Dadd

1914 There's Room for You, Enlist To-Day: William Arthur Fry (1865-1930) was an artist born in Otley, Yorkshire in 1865 who painted landscapes, portraits and seascapes.