Junk Rains Hell on Axis. 1942.
Price: $2160 (starting bid + 20% buyer’s premium)
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212-787-4000 – Until November 23 only!
Junk Rains Hell on Axis. 1942.
Potbelly stoves, anvils, air pumps, water heaters, engine blocks, plows, radiators, spigots, axes. Take your pick. It might seem like junk to you, but as this humorously literal Artzybasheff poster published by the Wickwire Spencer Steel Company astutely points out, it’s just this sort of scrap that gets turned into the “vital ingredients for each batch of new steel” used against the Axis forces during World War II. And while the bottom text dutifully conveys all the practical information, it’s Artzybasheff’s wondrous up-top cartoon that delivers the real persuasive payload, with the lethal detritus raining down upon Hitler, Hirohito, and that crybaby Mussolini, as well as three literal vermin just in case the subtlety of the allusion evaded you. Artzybasheff was a Ukrainian-born illustrator active in the United States. During the 1920s, he illustrated several books, with his efforts culminating in a 1928 Newbery Medal. However, it’s his artwork done for magazines for which the illustrator was best known during his lifetime, including Life, Fortune, and Time—with 200-plus covers for that particular publication credited to him over a twenty-four year period. During WWII, Artzybasheff served as an expert advisor to the U.S. Department of State, Psychological Warfare Branch. Once the war was over, he applied that know-how to commercial art, including campaigns for Xerox, Shell Oil, Pan Am, Alcoa Steamship lines, Scotch Tape, and Parker Pens. His graphic style is striking and his commercial work often explored grotesque experiments in anthropomorphism, where toiling machines displayed distinctly human personalities and characteristics. Rare!
Size: 19 1/2 x 41 3/8 in./49.5 x 105 cm
Condition: A-/ Slight tear at horizontal fold. Framed.
Reference: PAI-XLIX, 117
Key Words: Modern; American; War & Propaganda
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Price: $2160 (starting bid + 20% buyer’s premium)
Place an online bid, or CALL US NOW for this special price
212-787-4000 – Until November 23 only!
Junk Rains Hell on Axis. 1942.
Potbelly stoves, anvils, air pumps, water heaters, engine blocks, plows, radiators, spigots, axes. Take your pick. It might seem like junk to you, but as this humorously literal Artzybasheff poster published by the Wickwire Spencer Steel Company astutely points out, it’s just this sort of scrap that gets turned into the “vital ingredients for each batch of new steel” used against the Axis forces during World War II. And while the bottom text dutifully conveys all the practical information, it’s Artzybasheff’s wondrous up-top cartoon that delivers the real persuasive payload, with the lethal detritus raining down upon Hitler, Hirohito, and that crybaby Mussolini, as well as three literal vermin just in case the subtlety of the allusion evaded you. Artzybasheff was a Ukrainian-born illustrator active in the United States. During the 1920s, he illustrated several books, with his efforts culminating in a 1928 Newbery Medal. However, it’s his artwork done for magazines for which the illustrator was best known during his lifetime, including Life, Fortune, and Time—with 200-plus covers for that particular publication credited to him over a twenty-four year period. During WWII, Artzybasheff served as an expert advisor to the U.S. Department of State, Psychological Warfare Branch. Once the war was over, he applied that know-how to commercial art, including campaigns for Xerox, Shell Oil, Pan Am, Alcoa Steamship lines, Scotch Tape, and Parker Pens. His graphic style is striking and his commercial work often explored grotesque experiments in anthropomorphism, where toiling machines displayed distinctly human personalities and characteristics. Rare!
Size: 19 1/2 x 41 3/8 in./49.5 x 105 cm
Condition: A-/ Slight tear at horizontal fold. Framed.
Reference: PAI-XLIX, 117
Key Words: Modern; American; War & Propaganda
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