WWII "Don't Scrap It" poster - image

**Jon** · Jan 15, 2023, 12:27 PM

Fullsize image: https://diqn32j8nouaz.cloudfront.net...3_fullsize.jpg

**12L14** · Jan 16, 2023, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by Toolmaker51

Colorization or pastels; either way it's astonishingly realistic artwork.

Most likely aerograph/airbrush over photograph(technique used from last quarter of XIX century).

**mwmkravchenko** · Jan 18, 2023, 08:02 AM

Not much has changed has it. Every country has their own version. Every country is always in the right.

**Toolmaker51** · Jan 18, 2023, 09:36 AM

Originally Posted by mwmkravchenko

Not much has changed has it. Every country has their own version. Every country is always in the right.

Only when a significant populace of another country agrees.
But still, not always RIGHT.

Muddled of late, too many overreaching bodies running the show, behind the curtains. That isn't right for anyone.

**mklotz** · Jan 18, 2023, 10:09 AM

It's called demonizing the enemy. It would be interesting to see WWII propaganda posters from the Axis countries. However, the losers in wars seldom do a good job of saving the historical artifacts.

**Toolmaker51** · Jan 18, 2023, 10:32 AM

Yes, demonizing, the pointy end of propaganda. In the many, many hundreds of such WWII artwork examined, there are few examples from 'our' shores. I don't recall any so grotesque, most depict Axis central figures as clownish. My guess, this is soon after 7 December 1941, even though bombing in Pacific Islands Campaign barely started.
Odd this came up, was thinking about Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, all the street names are Pacific Islands. That delved into Port Hueneme's signifigance, and rest of the day is shot.
https://seabeemuseum.wordpress.com/2...eme-1942-1945/
With endless collection of links at the page bottom

**Jon** · Jan 18, 2023, 07:46 PM

The Japanese were ripe for cartoonish caricaturing; not only had they incited unprecedented US vengeance with the invasion at Pearl Harbor, but they looked physically different from Westerners. This difference in physical appearance might also explain why we interned ten times the number of Japanese Americans as we did German Americans. The Tokio Kid Say posters were a great example of this. There is a good gallery here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/C...:Tokio_Kid_Say

This one combines the concepts of Rosie the Riveter, saving scrap, and Tokio Kid:

Fullsize image: https://diqn32j8nouaz.cloudfront.net...r_fullsize.jpg

America has preserved a rich collection of its propaganda posters, but I think the US was objectively superior at creating them, same as the Germans were objectively superior at press forming metal. Of the examples that I have seen, the German posters relied heavily on German gothic font, frequently featured Hitler or idealized versions of the Aryan soldier, and were much more thematically and visually limited. American posters were artistically wide-ranging, emotionally striking, and featured ordinary people.

That being said, this German demoralization leaflet does a good job of copying the style of American propaganda posters:

**Toolmaker51** · Jan 18, 2023, 09:57 PM

Those are all very good. Thinking examples commonly found, those widely distributed via Life, Fortune, and other periodicals were a bit conservative. The overt samples might have been displayed more in workplaces, therefore less were preserved? That impression came out with the mention of rivets, not a common term for general public.