I Want You… to learn a little more about James Montgomery Flagg’s iconic 1917 poster. The image you see here is a digitalized image provided by the library of congress https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.50554/ The library of congress page provides a lot of reliable information about this piece of work but it does not tell us everything or much about the artist.
Flagg, James Montgomery. I Want You for U.S. Army: Nearest Recruiting Station. 1 Jan. 1917
James Montgomery Flagg (1877 - 1960) began his career at the young age of 12 selling his work to publications. At the age of 15 he started work as an artist for Leslie-Judge publications. The original iteration of this iconic work was first published as the July 6 1916 cover for Leslie’s Weekly. The original wording under the picture read “What Are You Doing For Preparedness?"
On April 6 2017 America officially entered World War I days later on April 13 Woodrow Wilson established the Committee on Public information chaired by George Creel. This committee engaged in creating and spreading American propaganda supporting the war. The committee had a number of divisions, one of which was the Committee of Pictorial Publicity (COPP) which Flagg joined in 1917.
After joining COPP Flagg recreated his Leslie’s Weekly cover and turned it into a recruiting poster for the U.S. government. The wording under the picture was changed to the now famous “I Want You For U.S. Army” The poster was so effective that the U.S. government went on to use it again when recruiting for the second world war.
After having difficulty arranging for a model he used himself. A sort of unintentional self portrait I suppose. It might be fitting then that this is arguably his most famous work. It makes me think of other famous artists whose more famous pieces are also self portraits, Frieda Kahlo, Pablo Picasso, Van Gogh, Andy Warhol among others. Each of them communicating a little part of themselves to us for posterity. Certainly Flagg has communicated his own patriotism through this picture to many generations.
Sources:
https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.50554/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Montgomery_Flagg
https://americanillustration.org/project/james-montgomery-flagg
https://www.famouspictures.org/uncle-sam-wants-you
