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TITLE Poster "Work! To Set ' Em Free! / Work! To Keep 'Em Firing!" DESCRIPTION Poster "Work! To Set ' Em Free! / Work! To Keep 'Em Firing!" Oldsmobile, GM 30" W x 40" H CONTEXT "Guns, tanks, and bombs were the principal weapons of World War II, but there were other, more subtle, forms of warfare as well. Words, posters, and films waged a battle for the hearts and minds of the citizenry just as surely as other weapons fought the enemy. Persuading the American public became a wartime industry, as equally important as manufacturing bullets and planes.... During World War II, [posters] were ever-present visual reminders of the national war effort. Competing for the attention of the casual observer in a busy visual environment, poster artists composed their works with all the cunning of military strategists. They drew from an arsenal of powerful visual symbols, which were strategically combined with words to evoke a particular response from the viewer -- to shape opinion and influence behavior in pursuit of governmental aims." Powers of Persuasion: Poster Art from World War II CREDIT Oldsmobile, GM National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution |
