Bunch’a Colors
THE SECOND WORLD WAR
We know about the war to end all wars and the war that followed it — you know, the one that started in 1939 with the invasion of Poland by Germany and ended in ’45 with the bombing of Hiroshima? The one deemed “the Deadliest Conflict in human history” resulting in 70–85 million fatalities? Yeah, you know. The war consisted of participants (100 million) from over 30 different countries. Yeah, INSANE.
As every war so often is, it was divided into two opposing sides — the Allies consisting of France, Poland, United Kingdom, Dominions of British Commonwealth, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, The Soviet Union and last but not least The United States; and the Axis consisting of Germany, Italy and Japan. In the United States and in several other countries, propaganda was executed through various outputs: radio shows, music, plays etc. The most popular however, were posters such as the one above (United We are Strong United we will Win by Henry Koerner). These posters were created by different artists using different mediums, and exhibited different colors, shades and styles to get their respective messages across to viewers. The St. John’s University Archives and Special Collections holds a multitude of these pieces as shown and described below. Enjoy!
BY THE DAWN’S EARLY LIGHT
WAR BONDS
War bonds were used to finance defensive initiatives and military efforts during times of war. Investors (the civilians) earned the difference between the amount they bought the bond for and its value at maturity. In other words, there was no real profit to gain from this. People bought war bonds out of pure patriotism.
The posters made to promote war bonds were aimed at people’s morale. Not only did the posters invoke a sense of patriotism but also a hope for victory. Protect His Future Buy and Keep War Bonds, created by Ruth Nichols, took an indirect approach making children the subject of attention. Because this specific poster used children, a positive outlook, the colors were much brighter than those used in other posters such as Doing All You Can Brother? Buy War Bonds done by Robert Smullyan Sloan. However, what is similar between the two pieces is again, the approach to morale and in turn, the dramatic coloring and lighting of the subjects and their backgrounds. Unlike Ruth’s piece, Sloan’s focused on the more brutal, dark reality of things presently occurring at that time — the war. The blues and blacks of the background and highlights and shadowing on the subject’s skin pops out more than anything else. They dominate the entire picture, almost. The subject was also created to evoke the exact opposite mood of Ruth’s piece — seriousness and hardship.
FUN FACT
Did the dramatics work?
Dramatics did. Defensive bonds, during World War I, raised 21.5 billion dollars toward war efforts. Know how much they raised second time around? 180 billion dollars. Between the years of 1941 and 1945, 80 million people had purchased war bonds. 80 MILLION.
THE FEW, THE BOLD, THE WOMEN
The call to action did not discriminate as the female labor force shot up to 6.5 million. 37 percent of all adult women were employed during this time with occupations from building ships, aircrafts and vehicles, to driving trucks, providing logistical support for soldiers or nursing on the front lines.
During a time that women were regarded as the keepers of house and family. Strength and patriotism were the biggest theme of propaganda. In J. Howard Miller’s famous We Can Do It, the subject, as it was in various other women-targeted propaganda posters was a woman. In several of these pieces akin to the ones shown above, the artists added several pieces of detail highlighting features in the face ensuring that they pop out almost as if to reinforce the concept that these are all regular female civilians just like the ones viewing the works. The artists also use very bold colors in the clothing and facial structures to give the pieces a serious tone. In We Can Do it, those colors are the yellow and blue. The two colors stand out most as it really was an attempt to make the uniform on his subject (Rosie the Riveter), pop. Whereas in William Ritter’s piece Become a Nurse Your Country Needs You, the focus is on the red, blue and white, enforcing a more patriotic approach.
World War II was a nation wide effort, in terms of the United States’ involvement. Past stereotypes and categorizations were not forgotten, but overlooked for this brief struggle in history.
World War II has concluded years ago, but the propaganda used can still be found and referenced. St. John’s University’s Archives and Special Collections is one of many sources to find these historical arts. Check it out!
“Representations of Women in Propaganda.” Omeka RSS, oberlinlibstaff.com/omeka_hist244/exhibits/show/homefront/propaganda.
“U.S. War Bonds.” U.S. War Bonds, www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1682.html.
“World War II: a People’s War? — Howard Zinn.” Libcom.org, libcom.org/history/world-war-ii-peoples-war-howard-zinn.
“Women & World War II.” Women & WWII | Camp Hale | MSU Denver, www.msudenver.edu/camphale/thewomensarmycorps/womenwwii/.
