Sale 2453 - Vintage Posters, August 2, 2017

DESIGNER UNKNOWN 86 ● WHO’S ABSENT? / IS IT YOU? 1915. 29 1 / 4 x19 3 / 4 inches, 74 1 / 4 x50 1 / 4 cm. Andrew Reid & Co., Ltd., Newcastle-on-Tyne. Condition B+ / A-: time-staining in upper and lower image; minor creases at edges and along unobtrusive vertical and horizontal folds; pencil notation in lower left corner. Paper. John Bull, in his Union Jack vest, is standing in front of a line of khaki-clad soldiers and a burning building, pointing towards the public with a reproachful question. The most famous of the “pointing” recruitment posters is James Montgomery Flagg’s I Want You (1917), which was based on Alfred Leete’s poster, Lord Kitchener (1914). This image falls chronologically between the two. If British World War I posters failed to have all of the emotive power and strength of their American and European counterparts, it is because by and large they were designed by printers, and not by artists. Paret 67, Rickards 11. [500/750] LLOYD MYERS (1982-1955) 87 ● BRITISHERS YOU’RE NEEDED / COME ACROSS NOW. Circa 1916. 41x28 inches, 104x71 cm. Albert Frank, New York. Condition A-: minor loss and creases in margins; tear from left margin slightly into image. Paper. Although America stayed out of World War I until 1917, the British attempted to recruit expatriates from the shores of their former colony. Similar British posters for their hometown market call on Brits to “come over here” and “slip across and help,” but they are often referring to the much shorter journey from England to France. Rawls p. 51, Theofiles 22, Borkan p. 44. [500/750] 86 87