Description
In 1917, the American shipping industry was woefully unprepared to manufacture the large number of ships necessary to prosecute the war. The Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC), the commercial branch of the US Shipping Board, was established in April 1917 to address the shortage. Its mission was to build a bridge to France by creating a large merchant fleet to transport supplies and soldiers to France. The EFC urged workers in shipbuilding plants to join the great industrial army at home and build more and better ships in the second line trenches. To inspire the shipbuilders, the EFC held a poster competition in conjunction with the New York Sun. Artists were asked to create posters that would wield a weapon of tremendous power . . . and put fresh courage into every man who fights for the flag, whether he is battling with good American steel in the form of bullets and bayonets or in shaping the same steel . . . into ships . . . . The competition had several different classes and offered prizes amounting to $1,000. As can be seen in the lower left corner of this poster, the marine painter and lithographer Fred J. Hoertz won an honorable mention in the Citizens Class for Your Work Means Victory. The first prize in the Citizens Class went to a little known artist named Edward Hopper.
Details
- Work Date:
- 1918
- Dimensions:
- 38 x 28 inches
- Medium:
- color lithograph
- Credit Line:
- Gift of Bartlett H. Hayes, 1985