“Help Deliver the Goods” Poster

“Do it now,” urges this World War I-era U.S. Navy poster, which features a young sailor featured smiling as he winches several large naval shells onto a ship.  The shells, no doubt intended to be fired from the heavy guns in the background, are marked “to be delivered RUSH.”  The poster was created circa 1918 as part of a large U.S. government effort to enlist young men in the burgeoning war effort against Kaiser Wilhelm’s Germany.

At the time of the poster’s creation the U.S., because of the German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare, had just emerged from its three-year-long stance of declared neutrality.  It was gearing up for what would be more than a million-man commitment to the western front, as well as for involvement in what by that time was a globe-spanning naval conflict. The poster’s designer is Herbert Paus (1800-1946), a then-prominent American artist and cartoonist.  Paus was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota but resided in New York state, where he died.  During his spell as a war-time artist, he produced dozens of patriotic posters – his work was used by all departments of the military and by the U.S. government’s homefront operations. Before enlisting his artistic talents with the government during the war, Paus’ work was featured in Life Magazine, The Country Home, and Collier’s National Weekly.  His work for Collier’s is reminiscent of that done for official purposes – it features patriotic themes of determined U.S. doughboys, pitted against the destructive Germans.Paus was best known as a watercolorist, although he used oils on occasion and was expert at pencils and inks.  His distinctive style earned him the praise of his fellow artists.  For example, James Lileks commented that “I love this guy’s work – the way he outlines the figures with a thick black line. Almost makes you wish they’d never invented photography.”