Back in the 30s and 40s a program called the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was an attempt to provide more jobs for people. Those with artistic inclination were commissioned to make a series of public service announcement posters which covered everything from traveling to curing syphillis. Largely stemmed in Bauhaus and modernist traditions they lend themselves to early collage and minimalism. The colors are sparse and the shapes which make up the lettering and images seem cutout from construction paper. Even though these were done solely on a commercial level the artists involved were trained and put their very specific stamp on them. Mainly shown in states such as California, New York, Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania, the artists involved did not sign the work and most of the pieces were discarded after use. Recently, a committee was formed to try and recover some of these posters. The WPA Recovery Program was created in 2001 to try and locate original copies of the 2000 posters made.
Looking back experts have determined that these have become notable pieces of art and a legitimate record of that time. In 2008 a book called Posters for the People was published showing many of the works andidentifying artists different styles. (via Hyperallergic )
I am not quite old enough to remember the WPA first hand, but the artists that produced these posters and advertising themes were certainly talented.
Enjoy
There is a hilarious description about the making of the WPA posters in Betty MacDonald's book, Anybody Can Do Anything.
This is a book about the depression, when jobs were so scarce, and she finally got a job with the government. As she was really good at her job, (something to do with government contractors), she was promoted and oversaw the WPA's artists. She describes trying to find an artist to make a poster for the health system-- and the committee chose someone who danced around, throwing her arms in the air, swishing a scarf through the air... This lady's poster was wild. Sort of like a horror film poster! The other employees on the committee were NOT pleased.
These are great posters, and they look "familiar" to me! Thanks for posting them!
Dowser
Glad you liked the artwork
Thanks for the tip on the book, I will check it out
I love poster art for a number of reasons; it is functional, often quite aesthetic, can be quite colorful -- often imaginatively so, allows for text, and, can become timeless as an artwork even long after any message is passe.
A Mac
Thanks for sharing your perspective
I agree that the pieces are timeless and still beautiful even though the messages themselves have long since become nearly or totally meaningless.
Betty MacDonald wrote "The Egg and I"- they made a movie out of it, then made a lot of Ma and Pa Kettle sequences. My gosh, that book is FUNNY . She followed that up with Anybody Can Do Anything , The Plague and I , and Onions in the Stew ... All of which are excellent! They're hard to find, though. You can usually order a used copy on ABE books for about $2. Not great conditions, but even with postage, it's usually less than $5. Betty MacDonald died in 1958, of ovarian cancer. That nearly broke my heart when I found out about it...
Well, to me, they are all timely... I guess I live in the last century.
Even the "War Industry Needs Water" one is timely.
The old treatment for syphilis was arsenic. Remember Out of Africa ? The author, Isak Denison, got syphilis from her husband and had to take arsenic treatments in order to be cured... Even today, there are some strains that are antibiotic resistant.
Dowser
Sounds like your perspective and wisdom is also timeless spanning the centuries
You are very kind!
I'm old fashioned, I guess... But, living surrounded by antiques, and being one, I guess it's to be expected...
Sounds like our house - my movie and music collection
Days gone by have a lot of good memories for us and sometimes all the hustle and bustle makes one long for those days for sure
Hang in there - you and I are not dinosaurs just appreciative of days gone by