Come On! Buy More Liberty Bonds

Description

The illustrator, Walter Whitehead, entered the war effort as an executive member of the Division of Pictorial Publicity, the voluntary committee of artists organized to produce posters and other art work in support of the war effort. Not specifically a poster artist himself, Whitehead was, however, to guide many other such artists in his teaching position at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. In his "Come On! Buy More Liberty Bonds," Whitehead offers one of the few images in the exhibition which suggests at least some of the violence of war in the from of a slain German soldier. This is hardly overdone as the enemy's face is hidden, his body a nondescript heap. With his stoic American solider who, in coldly stepping over the fallen body, acquires only the trace of blood on his boot to suggest conflict, Whitehead rather heavy-handedly--yet forcefully--suggests a superior might, grim determination, and vigorous continued effort among American forces. In this poster the artist's primary concern is the conveyance of his message in attractive bold, red letters which contrast with the generalized but recognizable body forms.