Eagles' Victory Celebration in Fireworks
Artist
Designer Unknown
Printer
The Donaldson Litho Co., Newport, KY
United States
Datec. 1918
Dimensions41 1/4 x 27 1/4 in. (104.8 x 69.2 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LineGift of Peter A. Blatz
Object numberPH.219
DescriptionThis is one of two related posters published by the Donaldson Lithograph Company of Newport, Kentucky, promoting a parade celebrating the Allied victory in World War I. (The other shows the figure of Columbia wearing the American flag.) While the designer is unknown, the colorful print, showing a statue of George Washington surrounded by fireworks, flags, and a parade of veterans and civilians led by a brass band, is extremely detailed and refined. The Donaldson Art Sign Company was first established in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1863, then a well-known center for high-quality lithography; it produced advertising signs made of metal, iron, glass, and paper for companies offering a huge range of products, including beer and candy. It was incorporated as the Donaldson Lithography Company in 1893 and moved to Newport, Kentucky in 1898. By the time this poster was printed, the firm had opened a new plant and was successfully producing large, colorful advertising posters for circuses, local fairs, and such traveling acts as sword-swallowers, hypnotists, and musicians. It specialized in posters that could be customized by companies with specific names and dates to reduce costs; these were printed on Donaldson’s hand presses as a series of small prints and then pasted together on barns and other large buildings.On View
Not on view
