Author Topic: August 2018  (Read 11352 times)

Offline DekeThornton

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August 2018
« on: August 18, 2018, 01:53:30 AM »
Hello poster friends! It's been quite a while since I've posted, though I've still been lurking.

Anyway, I finally scored one of my "unicorns" I had been keeping an eye out for several years.

"Mexico por la libertad", a 1942 Mexican WWII propaganda poster by the artist Jose Bribiesca.

A former forum member also posted one of these a couple years back. It wasn't for sale then (I asked).  This is a different copy.

This isn't something I plan to put on the wall since the swastika is so prominent, but I do love the image of the Mexican eagle rending the Nazi flag:


« Last Edit: August 18, 2018, 02:59:59 AM by DekeThornton »

Offline DekeThornton

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Re: August 2018
« Reply #1 on: August 18, 2018, 02:07:39 AM »
Another WWII propaganda poster.

This one was produced for the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs to help keep Latin America on the side of the Allies.

The Museum of Modern Art in NY sponsored a poster contest, and this was the winning entry. Amazingly, I found this press release from 1942 on the MOMA website with all the details of the contest!
https://www.moma.org/momaorg/shared/pdfs/docs/press_archives/831/releases/MOMA_1942_0073_1942-10-19_421019-67.pdf


Offline DekeThornton

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Re: August 2018
« Reply #2 on: August 18, 2018, 02:59:04 AM »
And yet another published by the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs

The artwork is by Walter Beach Humphrey, a member of the New Rochelle artist colony that also included Norman Rockwell.

Interestingly, I have not found any other reference to this poster on the internet. Which is strange, because I can't imagine why it would be rarer than any of the other posters distributed by the OCIAA/OIAA.

Anyway, it is in my opinion a kick-ass poster!

The title is "El sueño de los héroes; La obra de sus hijos", which translates to "The dream of the heroes; The work of their children."

It shows the great historical liberators of the Americas including:
  • George Washington (USA)
  • Simón Bolívar (Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama)
  • Bernardo O'Higgins (Chile)
  • José de San Martín (Argentina, Chile, Peru)
  • José Martí (Cuba)
  • José Gervasio Artigas (Uruguay)
  • José Bonifácio de Andrada (Brazil)
  • Francisco Morazán (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica)
  • Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (Mexico)
  • Toussaint L'Ouverture (Haiti)



« Last Edit: August 18, 2018, 03:01:25 AM by DekeThornton »

Offline okiehawker

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Re: August 2018
« Reply #3 on: August 18, 2018, 12:18:32 PM »
And yet another published by the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs

The artwork is by Walter Beach Humphrey, a member of the New Rochelle artist colony that also included Norman Rockwell.

Interestingly, I have not found any other reference to this poster on the internet. Which is strange, because I can't imagine why it would be rarer than any of the other posters distributed by the OCIAA/OIAA.

Anyway, it is in my opinion a kick-ass poster!

The title is "El sueño de los héroes; La obra de sus hijos", which translates to "The dream of the heroes; The work of their children."

It shows the great historical liberators of the Americas including:
  • George Washington (USA)
  • Simón Bolívar (Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama)
  • Bernardo O'Higgins (Chile)
  • José de San Martín (Argentina, Chile, Peru)
  • José Martí (Cuba)
  • José Gervasio Artigas (Uruguay)
  • José Bonifácio de Andrada (Brazil)
  • Francisco Morazán (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica)
  • Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (Mexico)
  • Toussaint L'Ouverture (Haiti)





Hi Deke, It reminded me of many of the beautiful murals done for public buildings during the Great Depression here in the U.S.  So, I looked up Humphrey and "mural" and it looks like your poster is from this mural:  Patriotic Montage (1933-34) housed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.  Here's the link https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/patriotic-montage-10944

My best

Okie

Offline DekeThornton

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Re: August 2018
« Reply #4 on: August 19, 2018, 12:26:25 AM »
Hi Deke, It reminded me of many of the beautiful murals done for public buildings during the Great Depression here in the U.S.  So, I looked up Humphrey and "mural" and it looks like your poster is from this mural:  Patriotic Montage (1933-34) housed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.  Here's the link https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/patriotic-montage-10944

My best

Okie

Thanks for finding that, Okie!  That is an important piece of the puzzle!

It is interesting that the Smithsonian gives a fairly wide ten-year range for the creation date of the painting ("ca. 1933-1943").

I am pretty sure the aircraft in the painting/poster is a B-24 Liberator which entered service in 1941.

So it seems almost certain the painting was created in the 1941-45 period.

I wonder if any alternate language poster versions were also published? Some of the OCIAA/OIAA posters were printed in Spanish only, but others also had variants in English and Portuguese.
« Last Edit: August 19, 2018, 12:27:52 AM by DekeThornton »

Offline Crazy Vick

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Re: August 2018
« Reply #5 on: August 20, 2018, 12:55:55 PM »


Very nice Deke and congrats... Is it common?  I ask because I had never seen this one before. 

Wonder if the office of IA affairs a precursor to the OAS that we know today?

Offline DekeThornton

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Re: August 2018
« Reply #6 on: August 21, 2018, 02:38:21 AM »
Very nice Deke and congrats... Is it common?  I ask because I had never seen this one before. 

Wonder if the office of IA affairs a precursor to the OAS that we know today?

Thanks!

I doubt the OIAA posters are truly rare in an absolute sense -- and they don't sell for big bucks for the most part -- but they take effort to find.  I would imagine the print runs were smaller than your run-of-the-mill US WWII propaganda posters produced for domestic consumption.

After I found that link to the press release for the poster contest on the MOMA website, I learned after clicking around that a catalog was produced for the exhibition of winning and honorable mention posters.

And sure enough, I found one of these original 1942 exhibition catalogs for sale for $20!

MOMA also reproduces the catalog online for your viewing pleasure.
https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_3115_300061976.pdf

As far as I know besides the winning design, maybe only one of the other poster designs was published for wide distribution.

Offline DekeThornton

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Re: August 2018
« Reply #7 on: August 27, 2018, 01:04:58 AM »
Thanks for finding that, Okie!  That is an important piece of the puzzle!

It is interesting that the Smithsonian gives a fairly wide ten-year range for the creation date of the painting ("ca. 1933-1943").

I am pretty sure the aircraft in the painting/poster is a B-24 Liberator which entered service in 1941.

So it seems almost certain the painting was created in the 1941-45 period.

I wonder if any alternate language poster versions were also published? Some of the OCIAA/OIAA posters were printed in Spanish only, but others also had variants in English and Portuguese.

I went ahead and sent a message to the Smithsonian American Art Museum with some of my details and speculation about the painting and poster. We'll see if anybody cares or if I came off like some strange obsessive person!

Offline DekeThornton

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Re: August 2018
« Reply #8 on: August 27, 2018, 01:08:12 AM »
Very nice Deke and congrats... Is it common?  I ask because I had never seen this one before. 

Wonder if the office of IA affairs a precursor to the OAS that we know today?

Well, it's been a fruitful month!  I managed to snag the Portuguese version as well!