The Value of an Iconic Image: James Montgomery Flagg and the Famous “I Want You” Poster

Flagg, I Want You, 1917

Those new to collecting posters sometimes ask, “Why buy the original?” To answer that question, let’s take a look at a poster we all recognize, “I Want You” by James Montgomery Flagg, the iconic military recruiting poster from World War I.  The market performance of this poster over the past quarter century is impressive, and like all other posters, it tells a story.  There is a tremendous amount of information to be found about the artist who created this piece, and about the time and tradition from whence this poster came.

There were a recorded 4,000,000 copies of “I Want You” printed in 1917, so this poster could hardly be considered rare.  Yet, like all other advertising posters, the value of the piece today depends on how many are in circulation (remember most posters were used and destroyed) as well as the demand for the poster in question.  When an original “I Want You” poster sold at auction in 1985, it fetched $1,540* , which was high for a World War I poster at the time.  Twenty-one years later in 2006, it fetched $6,900. * Today, this piece can be found on the market for $8,500. This type of appreciation is not unusual for original advertising posters, particularly those by well-known artists.

James Montgomery Flagg was born in 1877 and sold his first illustration to the magazine St. Nicholas at age 12.  He began to illustrate regularly for Life magazine at the age of 14, and went on to work for such popular magazines as Judge, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Liberty and Harper’s Weekly, producing on average of 1 illustration a day. Flagg was proud of his ability to work quickly.  He was a versatile artist, using oil paints, pencil, pen and ink, watercolor and even sculpture.

It is interesting to note that Flagg briefly lived in Paris in 1900, during in the heyday of poster art, when the city streets were made bright with the works of prominent posterists Jules Cheret, Alphonse Mucha, Henri de Toulouse Lautrec and Theophile Steinlen.  One can surmise that Flagg couldn’t help but absorb the fundamentals of good poster design from his exposure to the French masters of illustration.

When World War I broke out and the Division of Pictorial Publicity was formed to create a nationwide poster campaign, Flagg was an inaugural member.  “I Want You” was drawn first as a cover of the magazine “Leslie’s Weekly” and quickly turned into the most successful recruiting poster of all time.

Leete, Your Country Needs You, 1914

The image owes a debt to the 1914 British recruiting poster “Your Country Needs You” designed by Alfred Leete, which features Britain’s Secretary of State Lord Kitchener pointing at the viewer with an imposing stare. While effective in communicating the message to enlist, the poster is monochromatic and stark.  By contrast, the Uncle Sam Image in James Montgomery Flagg’s  “I Want You” is vibrant with color, and the muscle and sinew of the character represent strength and grit.  It is no wonder the artist reprised the character in a number of other WWI posters.

Photographs of Flagg dressed as Uncle Sam during WWII

James Montgomery Flagg was 64 when the US entered World War II, but he didn’t hesitate to step back into his role as a military poster artist.  The artist even posed as Uncle Sam in some of the designs (see image above), and he created other great WWII posters for the Air Force, the Marines, the Red Cross and others.  We currently have poster below in our collection, which revives the imagery of Flagg’s “I Want You” poster to encourage the public to get a war job – list of positions included! Few American illustrators successfully created such a legacy as did Flagg.  The demand for his original advertising posters is a good indicator of where the original advertising poster stands in today’s marketplace.

Flagg, I Need Your Skills in a War Job, 1943

*Poster auctions International

Images from Wikipedia and “James Montgomery Flagg” by Susan E. Meyer

This post was written by Elizabeth Norris, Owner Vintage European Posters, and edited by Emily Jackson, UC Berkeley Art History Student and Gallery Assistant  www.vepca.com

Vintage European Posters was established in 1997. We are the West Coast’s Largest Dealer in Original Vintage Posters from France and the United States. See us online anytime at www.vepca.com and at our Berkeley Showroom OUTPOST 2201 Fourth Street, Tuesdays and Thursdays

Arts and Crafts Panels by Heywood Sumner

The upcoming Pasadena Heritage Show means that we are still thinking about Arts and Crafts homes over here at VEP! The prolific artist Heywood Sumner ( 1853-1940)  is a great example of an artist whose work would fit beautifully in a craftsman home. Sumner was an illustrator who worked alongside the Pre-Raphaelites from the late 19th century to the mid 20th century, in addition to being a prominent figure in the Arts and Crafts Movement.

Like many of the artists from this time period, Sumner worked in multiple mediums, and he also wrote about technique, so as to share what he had learned with other artists and craftsman.  Sumner was known for wood engraving, book illustration, and as a designer of wallpaper, tapestries and other textiles

We’ve recently had the pleasure of acquiring two new posters designed by Sumner, each of which presents a different poem bordering the image. The poem decorating the border of this first poem is entitled To Autumn and was written by the famed poet John Keats.

Heywood Sumner, Season of Mellow Fruitfulness Autumn

Sumner has included several lines of the poem on the poster:

Season of mellow fruitfulness
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core

The full poem describes the feeling of summer days passing into autumn, full of hard work and hopefully a bountiful harvest. The poster image’s warm earthy tones coupled with the rhythmic rows of wheat suit the poem perfectly.

This second poster includes a poem written by Christina Rossetti, a prominent writer in late 19th century England. Christina’s most famous poem is the dark “Goblin Market” Her brother, Dante Rossetti, was one of the most well-known Pre-Raphaelites, and his lush paintings are banner images from the movement.

Sumner, When Every Leaf is on its Tree Summer

In this poem, Rossetti sings the praises of summertime:

When ev’ry leaf is on its tree
When Robin’s not a beggar
And Jenny Wren’s a bride
And larks hang singing singing singing
Over the wheat-fields wide

Unlike the golden tones in Sumner’s Autumn poster, this image is bursting with vibrant green life - you can practically hear the birds singing!

We are always excited to find British posters, since they are relatively rare. It was the French that were the primary collectors, remember, so whenever we can get our hands on posters printed in Britain – especially when they’re as beautiful as Sumner’s – we’re over the moon! The earthy browns and greens in these posters make them a perfect pair mounted side by side, and their unique horizontal shape would fit well with the beautiful moldings and friezes in Craftsman homes. Vintage posters may not be the first type of art to come to mind for the Arts and Crafts home, but explore poster collections with examples which come from the period (roughly 1880-1920) and you will find many appropriate works of art.

Check out our Pinterest to see other great examples of Craftsman style posters!

This post was co-written by Emily Jackson, UC Berkeley Art History Student and Gallery Assistant, and  Elizabeth Norris, Owner Vintage European Posters www.vepca.com

Vintage European Posters was established in 1997.
We are the West Coast’s Largest Dealer in Original Vintage Posters from France and the United States.
See us online anytime at www.vepca.com and at our Berkeley Showroom OUTPOST 2201 Fourth Street, Tuesdays and Thursdays

As well as at pop up open weekends (sign our mailing list to receive updates about pop-ups)

This fall we will exhibit at the Pasadena Heritage’s Craftsman Weekend October 20-21

The Fall Hillsborough Antiques Show November 2-4

Motocyclettes Monet et Goyon

Gerard, Monet & Goyon, 1926

In 1926, the poster artist O.K. Gerard designed this beautiful poster for Monet & Goyon Motocylettes. It was a momentous year for Monet & Goyon, only two years after one of the founding partners Andre Goyon died of pneumonia, and the year that the company sold the record amount of machines – over 10,000! Unfortunately, this peak in sales was followed only several months later by the death of Joseph Monet, the second partner, forever changing the face of the company. During the next thirty years the company continued to produce motorcycles, until 1959 when it was absorbed into Motostandard.

Relatively ittle is known about the artist himself, although we do know that he continued to work into the 1930’s, designing posters for companies like Boyriven, an automobile supplier. The difference in design between the art deco Monet & Goyon and the more tradition and detailed Boyriven is striking, considering the fact that Monet & Goyon was designed and printed a full seven years before Boyriven. The bright colors, bold shapes, and central silhouetted figure are very characteristic of the 1920’s and 30’s. Life was moving faster in the early 1900’s. Buses, automobiles, and motorcycles like the one in this poster were moving people quickly from here to there, and as a result advertisements had to use simple designs and bright, bold colors to catch the eye of the passerby. One can simply glance at this poster and know instantly what it is advertising, which was an essential feature of a successful poster design.

Gerard, Boyriven, 1933

In contrast to the Monet & Goyon, Gerard’s later poster for Boyriven reverts back to a more detailed design that focuses less on the brand, and more on the image itself. Why does this poster seem to fall outside the art deco tradition? Check out the white box just below “Société Anonyme” – it’s a calendar! Companies would often print posters that included a calendar, which encouraged individuals to hang their advertisement in their garage or office for an entire year, giving individuals plenty of time to visually explore the image. Too simple, and individuals were more likely to take it down and throw it away. Talk about long term advertising!

This post was written by Emily Jackson, UC Berkeley History Student and Gallery Assistant
Edited by Elizabeth Norris, Owner, Vintage European Posters www.vepca.com

Vintage European Posters was established in 1997.
We are the West Coast’s Largest Dealer in Original Vintage Posters from France and the United States.
See us online anytime at www.vepca.com and at our Berkeley Showroom
OUTPOST
2201 Fourth Street, Tuesdays and Thursdays

As well as at pop up open weekends (sign our mailing list to receive updates about pop-ups)

This fall we will exhibit at the Pasadena Heritage’s Craftsman Weekend October 20-21

The Fall Hillsborough Antiques Show November 2-4

Richard N.Roland Holst; Renaissance Man and Poster Artist

As dealers in original posters, we respond to beautiful images.  We limit our collections to those things which were printed for advertising, and we know biographical information about the biggest artists from each time period- Cheret, Mucha, Steinlen from the Belle Epoque; Cappiello, Cassandre, Colin from the Deco period; Klein, Georget, Galli from the post war period.  Once in a while, we come across a poster which is so stunning, so different from typical poster design, that it warrants a second look.  We love this poster “Tentoostelling” by Richard N. Roland Holst, and it sent us on a quest for more information about the artist.

Social change and economic reform? A deteriation of the decorative arts and an appreciation for the artists? Yes, these indeed were the problems that one Dutch artist, Richard N. Roland Holst, attempted to tackle during his lifetime. Along with other individuals in the Arts and Crafts Movement and as one of the Dutch Symbolists, Holst spurred a revival that changed the course of lithography and fine arts.

Richard N. Roland Holst lived from 1868 to 1938.  He was a Dutch writer and artist working with a variety of mediums, including stained glass, lithography, painting, and illustration. He was best known as one of three prime leaders of the Dutch Symbolist Movement in the early to mid-1900s. Holst trained as an artist in Amsterdam at the Rijksakademie; his first love as an artist was Impressionist painting, and so Vincent Van Gogh and Jan Toroop deeply influenced him in his early years. Holst’s early work comprised of Symbolist drawings and lithographs in this vein. In 1892, after Van Gogh’s death, Holst produced a beautiful commemorative work for Van Gogh using a sunflower motif.*
His political leanings also influenced his work as an artist. Holst and his wife Henriette became part of the Democratic Socialist Party, in Dutch, “Sociaal Democratische Arbeiders Partij.” In the late 1890s, he created lithographs of political cartoons about Socialism, but also kept his work varied by continuing to do landscapes. At the turn of the century, Holst created murals that made a large impact and led to the greatest developments of his career; such “allegorical murals” included themes of Industry and the like. The development of his signature style, namely the geometric forms and very strict form, helped him demonstrate abstract ideas.

Original Poster by Holst advertising an exhibit of prints and printing

This poster by Richard N. Roland Holst called Tentoonstelling was for a September 1917 exhibition in Holland. The poster clearly exhibits Holst’s style at a relatively late part of his career. The symbolism in the black and gold
lithograph shows detail with flowers lining the central image of a tree. He skillfully uses angles to manipulate the viewer’s eye to focus on the central image and then move to the title “40Tentoonstelling.”

What can we learn from Holst’s life about the Dutch Arts and Crafts movement? The Arts and Crafts Movement sought to revive the decorative arts in Europe beginning in the 1890′s. As a historical figure, Holst provides an example of a person whose work is remembered in his country and throughout the art world because his influential style developed into something very specific and recognizable. His style continues to impress us almost one hundred years later.

This poster is part of our current collection and can be seen on our website in the art exhibition section.  It has been framed archivally by the Studio Shop in Burlingame, with a beautiful closed corner frame. We will feature this rare piece at the Pasadena Heritage Show which will be held October 20-21, 2012

Sources

*http://0-www.jstor.org.opac.sfsu.edu/stable/774505]

http://www.artfact.com/artist/holst-richard-roland-o5txyzxw5q

This post was written by Karlie Drutz, SF State Museum Studies Program  and Edited by Elizabeth Norris, Owner Vintage European Posters

Vintage European Posters
http://www.vepca.com
Established 1997

2201 Fourth Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
510 843 2201

Turin International Exhibition Poster

Original Metlicovitz for the Turin Fair, printed in Italy in 1911

In the 19^th Century Worlds Fairs and International Expositions were much anticipated glorious and elaborate  events hosted by wealthy and prominent cities.

These fairs featured pavilions from many countries, which were constructed over a period of one year, by prominent architects and designers representing their countries.  Participants strived to feature modern innovations in technology, commerce and the arts and spared no expense in the construction and display of their goods and technologies.

The Turin Exposition of 1911 was a proud moment in Italian history, held just 50 years after the reunification of Italy It served as a proud spotlight on Turin as a modern city.  The fair opened on April 29^th and lasted for 6 months .  It was held in the Parco del Valentino.  The Exposition’s focus was on Industry and Labor, to distinguish itself from another Exposition held in Rome the same year with a focus on the arts.

The artist chosen to create the impressive poster for the event was Leopoldo Metlicovitz, (1868-1944) an Italian of Serbian descent, born in Trieste.  Metlicovitz was not formally trained as an artist but exhibited a rare talent in capturing light and shadow, and he rose to prominence quickly after his arrival in Milan during the pinnacle of Belle Epoque poster design.  He joined the foremost printing house Ricordi, where he studied with Italian poster designer Adolph Hohenstein.  After Hohenstein’s departure, Metlicovitz was named Ricordi’s artistic director. He went on to create famous posters for the prominent department store Mele  among others.

The poster Metlicoviz created for the Turin Fair captures the very best of classical realism.  The figures are proud, perfect in form, and the flag they display represents unified  Italy with the great city of Torino  rich in commerce, industry, architecture spread out behind them.