James Montgomery Flagg (1877-1960) (24 works)

11 May 2012

8 558

Category: Art and hand-drawn graphics, 0+

James Montgomery Flagg (June 18, 1877, Pelham Manor, New York - May 27, 1960, New York) was an American artist. He worked in various areas of fine art from painting to caricature, but is best known for his posters, including the famous “I want you for U.S.” poster. Army".
Flagg, born in Pelham Manor, New York, showed an interest in drawing from an early age. Already in his teens, he drew illustrations for Life and Judge magazines. Studied in New York, London and Paris. Returning from Europe to New York, Flagg worked actively, creating a huge number of book illustrations, cartoons, magazine covers, advertisements, etc. From 1903 to 1907, Flagg's comic strip was published in Judge.

Flagg created his most famous work in 1917 - it was a poster calling for volunteers to enlist in the American army during the First World War. Inspired by a British poster of Lord Horace Kitchener, Flagg depicted Uncle Sam pointing his finger at the viewer with the caption: “I want you for U.S. Army" (from English. I need you for the US Army). During World War I, 4 million copies of the poster were printed, and new editions were printed to recruit soldiers for World War II. Flagg used his own face as a model for Uncle Sam's face.

He died in New York in 1960 and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.