Clear The Way/Buy Bonds
Artist
Howard Chandler Christy
United States, 1873 - 1952
Printer
Forbes, Boston
United States
Date1918
Dimensions29 1/2 x 19 3/4 in. (74.9 x 50.2 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LineGift of Peter A. Blatz
Object numberPH.170
DescriptionThis image promotes the U.S. government’s Fourth Liberty Loan campaign during World War I, which ran from September 28 to October 19, 1918. It shows Columbia with her laurel wreath and the U.S. flag behind her, presented in the style of the coquettish “Christy Girl,” a version of the New Woman introduced by artist Howard Christy Chandler in the 1890s (and similar in concept to Charles Dana Gibson’s more famous “Gibson Girl” of the same decade). Here, the scantily clad figure has been somewhat updated, and appears to be urging on the similarly underdressed sailors of a naval gun battery as she implores American civilians to “clear the way” to victory by purchasing war bonds. On View
Not on view
