Impact of the Artwork and Posters  in World War I

During the time period in World War I, which was from 1914-1919, there were not the modern conveniences for communication. There were no televisions or radios so posters and photographs became the most imporatant means of getting an event or message across. In America, posters were used to help campaign to the people to support the Great War. The government took to this advantage and used it to unify the United States to fight the war.

In England, posters were used to try and recruit people to join in and fight or support World War I. Posters were used to encourage people to rally against Germany. The posters were also a means of trying to make Germany look as bad as possible to put an image in the peoples minds to get them to fight which is also propaganda. This was slightly reasonable because they did not have a policy of national services for the people to follow unlike France and Germany.

In Italy and France there were mostly recruitment posters for the duration of war.

The importance of posters and artwork is aparent because back in the time of the war which was in the 1900's there was no television or radio (compared to main communication technology now) there were just some small newspapers, art desplays, and propaganda posters. So artwork in the exhibitions and propaganda posters that were displayed everywhere were the most mind controlling and news bringing sources in that era thus making artwork and posters one of the only and most important public means of communicating during World War I.

Overall the posters were ways of convincing the people to give money for fighting the war, justifying their roles in the Great War, convincing men to join the army, and sustain a military campaign. The posters were commonly a wartime thrift and a way to voice the need for funds. A lot of the war posters were however a way of propaganda focusing on the bad in the situation forcing most people to only hear one side of the story, which was that Germans needed to be stopped for they were very bad people, which in some cases in what they had done is true but the people wen't really given a choice on their opinions. Some of the posters used the promise of better land, serving a higher authority, supporting the women of their land, and saving what they had and gaining a trait to convince people on what the war was about and that it was right. So since there were no televisions or radios the posters were what the public believed in and were influenced by.

The artwork of World War I was displayed in exibits and the public used them as a way to see into the war and to see what the soldiers were facing. Also the artwork was used as propaganda to bend the people into believing that the government was right in supporting the war. This was so because they would chose the artwork displayed which made it all one sided because they couldn't show very many thought provoking pictures that could rally the public against them because they needed the support and money. Eventually all artwork was displayed and the public was able to have a story told without words, that displayed the true events of what was faced in the Great War. Also the memory of what occured in the war was recorded in the pictures so the memories of what truely happpend would never fade away in the mind of the public and also all sides of the story were shown in the artwork not just what the government wanted the people to see..

Back Home

Background Information on World War I

Introduction

Artists and Propaganda Leaders in World War I

Conclusion

Process Paper

World War I Posters

Annonated Bibliography