Buy war bonds
1
2
3
4
5
Library of Congress · LC-DIG-ds-12471 (digital file from original) · Public domain · Catalog record
The pins
Context
For discussion
-
1
Transfer Uncle Sam A giant Uncle Sam striding through storm clouds, pointing the way. The nation as a mythological figure out of an adventure book, which is what Wyeth illustrated.
-
2
Flag-waving The flag The flag streams from his shoulders like a cape. There is no argument on the sheet, only the colors.
-
3
Bandwagon The soldiers A column of infantry charges below him, following. The viewer's bond puts him in the column.
-
4
Heroic scale The bombers Formations of aircraft fill the sky. Scale is the poster's argument: the war is this big, and so is the nation fighting it.
-
5
Slogan The caption Three words. Nothing in the picture concerns money, and the slogan does not explain what a bond is; the feeling is meant to carry it.
N. C. Wyeth's Treasury poster of 1942. Uncle Sam, enormous, strides across the sky over a column of marching soldiers and a line of tanks, a flag streaming behind him. Wyeth was the country's best-known illustrator, and the poster reads as an adventure-book cover: the nation as a giant leading its army, and the viewer's savings as the price of admission.
- Uncle Sam is the size of a mountain. What does scale say that words would not?
- What has a picture of marching soldiers to do with buying a bond?
- Compare this Uncle Sam with Flagg's. Which asks and which commands?
See also
Same era, or the same techniques.
