Sacrifice/The Privilege of Free Men
Artist
Nikol Schattenstein
1877 - 1954
Printer
Grinnell Lithographic Co., New York, NY
United States
Date1942
Dimensions33 1/2 x 23 1/4 in. (85.1 x 59.1 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LineGift of Peter A. Blatz
Object numberPH.232
DescriptionThis composition, acknowledging the cost of war to both soldiers and those they left behind, was one of nine winners of the National War Poster Competition held in 1942 under the auspices of Artists for Victory, Inc., with the collaboration of the Council for Democracy and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. R. Hoe & Company of New York, a long-established manufacturer of rotary printing presses, whose name appears in the lower margin as the lithographer of the poster, was a major sponsor alongside other private entities. Artists from 43 states submitted 2,224 designs on eight themes based on those in President Roosevelt's first war message to Congress on January 6, 1942, as well as contemporary slogans, including "The Enemy is Listening;" "Loose Talk Sinks Ships;" "Slave World or Free World;" "Victory Starts Here;" "Someone Talked;" "Sacrifice--The Privilege of Free Men;" "On the Job--The Boys Need Guns;" "Go Without So They Won't Have To." Each of the nine winners was awarded a three-hundred-dollar war bond; the organizers also promised that “…every effort will be made to interest the United States Government and private industries in reproducing other posters in the competition.” An exhibition of two hundred selected posters from the competition opened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York before moving on to the Carnegie Institute of Art in Pittsburgh and other museums across the nation. Russian-born artist Nikol Schattenstein had trained in Vienna and was best-known for his portraits by the time he arrived the United States in 1939 at the age of 62. He was, therefore, a very recent immigrant when he won this distinguished prize.On View
Not on view
