| u0003_0004200_0000035 |
| Title | Join the Air Service |
| Creator | J. Paul, Verrees |
| Date | 1917 |
| Format | 25 x 37 in |
| Description | J. Paul Verrees’s recruitment poster for the U.S. Air Service, a precursor to the modern day Air Force, attempts to capture the imagination of viewers by displaying a biplane in flight with a large star on each wing. The plane is set against a bright red and blue backdrop, perhaps illustrating a fiery sunset over a large body of water, and is in the process of diving. The audience is placed at roughly the same level as two uniformed scouts surveying the landscape, one through binoculars. The brutality of WWI was connected to a series of technological advancements, and in this poster, it is clear how aerial warfare provided both a tactical advantage, and a means of romanticizing violence. While this is the only poster in the collection to overtly focus on warplanes, subtle references to aviation can be found in the background of many posters, visual evidence of a rapidly developing technology with implications reaching far beyond the battlefield. |
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