Posters were used by all belligerents during the First and Second World Wars for a variety of purposes; recruiting aids, promoting bond sales, exhorting factory workers to produce, reminding personnel of security needs, building morale, and assuring people of the justness of their cause, to name but a few. Although regarded primarily as propaganda, they frequently represented skilful artistic endeavour. Successful poster designs might be copied by another nation.
Perhaps the most famous example of this phenomenon is the First World War recruiting poster showing Lord Kitchener (then Britain's Secretary of State for War) pointing to the viewer with the words "Wants You"; the famous face made it unnecessary to state who was involved. American posters incorporated Uncle Sam instead of Kitchener and, in the Second World War, similar posters produced in Canada showed General A.G.L. McNaughton.
Eric Aldwinckle (1909-1980) had been a commercial artist from 1928 onwards, and was familiar with advertising techniques. Upon the outbreak of war he was hired by the Ministry of National War Services, which coordinated much of the Canadian propaganda effort. In August 1942 he enlisted in the RCAF, serving as a camouflage specialist until February 1943. With the organization of the Canadian War Records programme, Aldwinckle was commissioned, appointed an official war artist, and posted overseas. He executed 128 works prior to his release in October 1945.
This poster was intended to create a sense of solidarity between service and civilian personnel. Factory workers were to feel that their efforts counted in the war; troops were to be assured that they were being supported wholeheartedly by those on the Home Front. The faces are firmly drawn; both persons are evidently determined to perform to the utmost.
Courtesy: Canadian War Museum, National Museum of Man, National Museums of Canada (56-005-12-151)
