THESE POSTERS FROM THE WPA ERA SEEM SO FRESH, I just had to share them after my friend with a keen eye for vintage, Pam of Retro Renovation, tipped me off yesterday. She emailed me the link to the Library of Congress treasure trove the graphic beauties live on in, called “By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943.” The messages–of conservation, hard work, simplicity, rich with phrases like “preserve food” and “spare our trees”– just struck me as right for now. Have a look at a slideshow of what I found.
The Library of Congress collection includes 908 original posters produced as part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal. Of 2,000 WPA posters known to exist, the LOC’s collection of more than 900 is the largest, the site explains. I simply searched by keywords for topics like “trees” and “farms” and “flowers,” but there are nearly 900 more to be enjoyed, on other subjects.
I was in El Paso, Texas last month and they had a bunch of these hanging in the Art Museum. Very cool. We think we’re all progressive with our eco-friendly everything, and they were doing it as part of the war effort! We could probably learn a thing or two from the older generation about how to live green!
Great posters! They had the right idea back then. Where did we stray off the path?
Interesting.
How can I get a poster like these now? I’m especially interested in “Pennsylvania” – does any one out there know?
Welcome, Anne. I do not know whether they are reproduced or not, but in a quick search I see a site about posters designed/produced in PA (go to http://wpaposter.net/index.html ) and perhaps they have expertise on reproductions or collectible sources. And then of course a search on ebay gets lots of results. Generally, though, I’m better at plant questions. :) See you soon.
What’s old is new again.
The Let Them Grow poster made my heart skip a beat.
How much fun! I love the graphic impact: “Plains farms need trees”! The British Library has an online gallery of images, but much broader in time, taken from their collection: http://www.imagesonline.bl.uk/results.asp?cat=NATUFRU
is their gallery of Fruit and Vegetable prints from their books, but they also have wonderful landscapes and gardens, if you search under those keywords. Everything from illustrations from Alice in Wonderland to painstaking aerial views of seventeenth-century palace gardens.
Pennsylvania stopped me in my tracks; “Only God Can Make a Tree” and “Spare Our Trees” suffused me with delight of color and simplicity and impact. Thank you for finding them, and all the others, and sharing them with us. It must have been so hard to winnow them down.
Welcome, Jane. Yes, there are some very tender moments here, even if I do not live in PA. I am glad you like. I hope you will come say hello again soon. :)
These posters are beautiful! They are especially exciting to me because I am from DuPage County, and Hinsdale is a couple of towns away from me. (Two of the posters say “DuPage County” and “Hinsdale” on them.) Having a flower show is totally something Hinsdale would do now!
I have long loved these posters. I’d love to get some to hang around my house. I saw a few at the Smithsonian when we went last summer, what wonderful art!
These are amazing, great find Pam.
Thanks for sharing!!!!
i love these! do you know if there are reproductions available?
I absolutely love these posters! I’d love to have some of them framed in my kitchen!
These are great posters. I’m also a big fan of Joe Wirtheims modern interpretations:
http://www.victorygardenoftomorrow.com
I have four hanging in my office and they are fantastic.
Wonderful media collaboration between you and Pam, M, so glad you two have hit it off. The two most ferocious bloggers I have ever had the pleasure to work with.
K
Welcome, Matt. Aren’t they great — and thank you for the contemporary resource. Nice to “meet” you and hope you won’t be a stranger.
@Kitty: All your fault. :)
Margaret, these are just wonderful. However, if we can’t get these, Joseppi has created new images like these. I bought the chickens, of course, and they came on beautiful paper. I plan to buy two more and hang them in my dining room.
Thanks for the heads up.~~Dee
Must find! I suppose I’ll spend my morning Googling and Ebaying…those are so striking and remarkable.
I found at least one here: the tree one!
http://www.zazzle.com/only_god_can_make_a_tree_poster-228108486152882682
Swann Auction Galleries in New York regularly auctions WPA posters, including some of the Pennsylvania images mentioned about: http://miniurl.com/34945 Some for a few hundred bucks.
Check out the catalogue for their upcoming sale of Modernist Posters here: http://www.swanngalleries.com/3dcat/2213/
Welcome, Rebecca. Now you have my attention! I didn’t even know about this whole world, other than a stray image or two, until recently. I can’t get the miniurl to load, however (but have been through the wonderful catalog already, thanks).
Thank you Margaret for this topic! I have long been a fan of the WPA posters. There are so many that we gardeners would love. I love the agricultural, farming, putting up your own food, they are countless. And there are a few websites out there where they have the reproductions at an affordable price. The artistry is fabulous.
Have you seen the Etsy store, the Victory Garden, and the posters he is printing? I have two hanging in my laundry room. http://www.etsy.com/listing/62510143/grow-food-special-screen-printed-poster?ref=sr_list_4&ga_search_query=Organic+gardening+posters&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_p
Thanks, Wylie, and welcome! I had not been to that shop, no. Great find! Hope to see you soon again.
Thanks for the WPA poster resource. I am an elementary art teacher and these are great examples of vintage graphic design that I will use in my classes. For those folks who really want reproductions of the posters, all you need do is download the very high resolution JPEG versions from the Library of Congress website and then take them on a CD or jump drive to a photo printing outlet and ask for color enlargements. For even better quality, find a shop with high-quality laser printing that serves the printing and graphic design community.
Margaret, I read your peaceful book while the snow was still falling and now it’s off to make war with weeds in the garden!
Thank you, Ron, for the smart how-to, and welcome! I am making war with the weeds here already, suddenly, too — and thankful that it’s not war of any other kind; too much of that on the planet! More peace is definitely called for. :) See you soon.
Just wanted to take the time to thank you for sharing the WPA posters. As a designer, gardener and lover of vintage I was so excited to see these and really love the muted color combinations. I know I will enjoy your blog and gardening website. Thanks again!
You are welcome, Connie. I love them, too for all the reasons you describe. Nice to “meet” you!
Thank you thank you thank you. I love these posters. I studied Graphic Design in school. I have always thought that I was born in the wrong era. I feel like a kid in a candy shop looking at them.