LARGE VINTAGE WORLD WAR II POSTER BY BEN SHAHN

SHAHN, Ben. [Poster] “We French workers warn you… defeat means slavery, starvation, death.” OWI Poster No. 17. Washington: Division of Public Inquiries, Office of War Information, 1942. Original large full-color photolithographic poster, measuring 40 by 28-1/2 inches. $1150.

Vintage World War II government-issued poster designed to increase war production at home.

This powerful image depicts a crowd of French working men raising their arms as if under arrest; behind them is an official decree posted from the Vichy government. Ben Shahn has been labeled a “social realist,” who in his own words, “found that I must paint those things that were meaningful to me—that I could honestly paint in the shapes and colors I felt belonged to them. What shall I paint? Stories.” The story of the French occupation contributed to America’s decision to enter the war.

A work of art in fine condition.