World War II posters helped to mobilize a nation. Inexpensive, accessible, and ever-present, the poster was an ideal agent for making victory the personal mission of every citizen. Government agencies, businesses, and private organizations issued an array of poster images, linking the military front with the home front and calling upon every American to boost production at work and at home. Deriving their appearance from the fine and commercial arts and expressing the needs and goals of the people who created them, posters conveyed more than simple slogans.
Wartime posters, which addressed every citizen as a combatant in a war of production, united the power of art with the power of advertising. Their message was that the factory and the home were also battlefields. Poster campaigns aimed not only to increase productivity in factories, but to enlarge people’s views of their responsibilities in a time of Total War. Government officials incorporated the poster medium into their plans to convert the American economy to all-out …show more content…
As one government official privately explained, “You just can’t let all the painters in the country paint their heads off and make a lot of posters and then slap them up somewhere.” After Japan’s December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, complaints about government poster design intensified.
To control the content and imagery of war messages, the government created the Office of War Information (OWI) in June 1942. Among its responsibilities, the OWI sought to review and approve the design and distribution of government posters. Eventually, contending groups within the OWI clashed over poster design. While some embraced the poster to demonstrate the practical value and utility of art, others hoped to use the poster to demonstrate the power of
Wartime posters, which addressed every citizen as a combatant in a war of production, united the power of art with the power of advertising. Their message was that the factory and the home were also battlefields. Poster campaigns aimed not only to increase productivity in factories, but to enlarge people’s views of their responsibilities in a time of Total War. Government officials incorporated the poster medium into their plans to convert the American economy to all-out …show more content…
As one government official privately explained, “You just can’t let all the painters in the country paint their heads off and make a lot of posters and then slap them up somewhere.” After Japan’s December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, complaints about government poster design intensified.
To control the content and imagery of war messages, the government created the Office of War Information (OWI) in June 1942. Among its responsibilities, the OWI sought to review and approve the design and distribution of government posters. Eventually, contending groups within the OWI clashed over poster design. While some embraced the poster to demonstrate the practical value and utility of art, others hoped to use the poster to demonstrate the power of