10,000,000 Members by Christmas

u0003_0004200_0000066
Title 10,000,000 Members by Christmas
Creator C.B. Falls
Date 1917
Format 19.25 x 29.50
Description C.B. Falls was a respected illustrator who designed many successful posters during WWI and WWII. This poster for the Red Cross was part of a campaign to recruit “10,000,000 MEMBERS by CHRISTMAS,” and it instructs audiences to show their support for the war by displaying a lit candle in a window on Christmas eve. A single candle shines in this image with a golden halo in front a large red cross, and the candle is placed in a candleholder containing holly, a recognizable holiday symbol. Falls’s image attempts to capture the quiet and sentimentality of the holidays to increase public support at a time of the year that is defined for many by a charitable spirit. While other posters in this Red Cross campaign share holiday motifs, Falls’s image offers a unique perspective. Rather than positioning audiences on the outside of the home looking in, Falls decides to place the viewer inside the home, looking outward in wonder upon a brightly colored night sky.
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