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Poster: Wake Up, America! Civilization Calls Every Man, Woman and Child!
191742 x 28 1/8 in. (106.7 x 71.4 cm)
James Montgomery Flagg
United States (Pelham Manor, NY, 1877 - 1960, New York, NY)
Object Type:
Print
Medium and Support:
Color lithograph
Credit Line:
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. E. Henry Keutmann
Accession Number:
1973.169
Location: Not currently on view
A personification is an artistic representation of an abstract quality or idea as a person. Traditional personifications of the United States, like Uncle Sam and Columbia/America, were common in war propaganda. Columbia is a conflicting presence in American World War I posters; sometimes she is pliant and beckoning, other times solid and fearsome. The preponderance of idealized females in WWI posters, in comparison to the few representations of "real" women, contradicted the reality of American women's growing participation in factories, farms, and hospitals.
In Wake Up, America!, America dozes while the fires of war rage in the distance. Her feminine, passive characteristics-soft arms, limp hand, and white, exposed neck-are an indictment in this poster. The artist, James Montgomery Flagg, admonishes Americans to wake up and prepare for war.
[Gallery label text, 2006]
In Wake Up, America!, America dozes while the fires of war rage in the distance. Her feminine, passive characteristics-soft arms, limp hand, and white, exposed neck-are an indictment in this poster. The artist, James Montgomery Flagg, admonishes Americans to wake up and prepare for war.
[Gallery label text, 2006]
Bibliography
For general references, see "War Poster Collections: Strong, Garrett, Taber, Fisk, Wright, Turnbull, McClenahan [and] Miscellaneous Collections," Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Library, 1919, cat. no. Taber BFA1224, p. 14; Maurice Rickards, “Posters of the First World War,” New York: Walker and Company, 1968, p. 22; George Theofiles, "American Posters of World War I," New York: Dafran House Publishers, Inc., 1973, fig. 7, p. 20; Walton Rawls, “Wake up, America!: World War I and the American poster," New York : Abbeville Press, 1988, repr. on frontispiece.
Additional Images
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Exhibition List
This object was included in the following exhibitions:
- Calling Every Man, Woman and Child: American World War I Posters Memorial Art Gallery 10/27/2006 - 1/21/2007
Bibliography
This object has the following bibliographic references:
- MAGazine. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery
- Memorial Art Gallery. ARTiculate. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery, 2000--.
Portfolio List
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Web Links
See links to web pages and lesson plans
World War I Posters Lesson Plan
Lesson plan around MAG's collection of World War I posters