Keep Your Red Cross At His Side/Give!
Artist
John Franklin Whitman Jr.
United States, 1880 - 1962
Date1944
Dimensions19 3/4 x 13 1/2 in. (50.2 x 34.3 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LineGift of Peter A. Blatz
Object numberPH.241
DescriptionAmerican artist and commercial illustrator John Franklin Whitman, Jr. produced a number of gouache paintings to illustrate fundraising posters like this one, several with the same tagline, for the American Red Cross War Fund during World War II; the organization’s efforts to help American soldiers fighting overseas was described by President Roosevelt as “the greatest single crusade of mercy in all of history.” Whitman had served as corporal in the U.S. Army and thus had an authentic understanding of some of the experiences of the military men depicted. The weary soldier in this image is shown in the Pacific jungle, looking at the viewer in a direct appeal for help. While the United States had secured much of the territory in the Pacific theater by 1944, it was still involved in several intense, bloody campaigns across the region.On View
Not on view
