First World War Posters

by Joseph Darracott, Belinda Loftus

Depicts 71 posters from World War I, in original color. Contains commentary on the posters in regards to the war. Dust jacket slightly torn. xxiii, 72 pages. cloth, dust jacket.. 4to..

Genres: History, Art, Nonfiction, World War I, Art History, Military Fiction

72 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1974

Reviews

[Joe Krakovsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of those books best read, and then thumbed through again from time to time. As the title implies, this is a collection of posters from World War I. So, you ask, "What is so interesting about that?" Well, to begin with, if you were a serious art student, you would be a fool not to try and get your hands on one!

At the beginning of the Twentieth Century, well before social media and instant messaging, posters were a very important part of getting the word out. True, you had hundreds of newspapers throughout the world, but it was those posters staring down at you as you waited for the trolley or train that you read and reread, and then contemplated as you went on your ride. And as you traveled, and gazed out the window, you saw more of them, on buildings, poles, wagons, and even on those sandwich boards on the guys walking down the street. Posters were a big business, both in war and peace.

To give you an idea of just how big a business it was, famous artists would travel to foreign countries to spend years studying the art of creating posters. At a time when a miner might bring home ten cents for a hard earned day's wages, a famous artist might get $1000 or even $10,000 for a poster. Of course this poster might be copied over and over and plastered all over creation, but you get the picture. Some war time posters were printed into the millions. Some of these artists are of world renown in the art world. One particular artist did a self portrait of himself and would be recognized for generations. James Montgomery Flagg's Uncle Sam was one of the most widely reproduced images in history!

[Katherine Addison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exactly what it says. This is an older book, so the reproductions aren't as crisp, and some of them are only black and white, but I continue to be fascinated by the seamless marriage of propaganda and art represented by these posters.

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some stunning visuals. However, the book is arranged alphabetically by illustrator with only one poster per artist, so the there isn't a real good sense of how the British differed from the German artists for example unless one keeps flipping pages back and forth. The information at the end on plagiarism between artists of different countries, animal symbols, and typography is really interesting, but too brief with black and white illustrations.