Vintage Poster Archives
L.N. Britton 1917 | US Food Administration WW1 Poster
L.N. Britton 1917 | US Food Administration WW1 Poster
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A whole fish on a vermilion-red plate anchors the centre of L.N. Britton's 1917 still-life: apples, grapes, a pear, roast fowl, a loaf of bread, green leafy vegetables and root vegetables are arranged across a dark brown table surface, all set against a flat forest-green ground. Below the illustration, a brown panel carries the poster's dietary instruction in amber-yellow capitals, 'EAT MORE' on one heading, 'EAT LESS' on the other, closing with the appeal to save wheat, meat, sugar and fats 'FOR THE ARMY AND OUR ASSOCIATES'.
Britton (1858–1934) designed this as Food Administration Poster No. 6 in 1917, printed by Heywood, Strasser and Voigt Litho Co. in New York. It was commissioned under Herbert Hoover's newly created U.S. Food Administration, established by President Wilson in August 1917 when the Food Control Act was signed into law. Where many Food Administration posters used patriotic allegory, Britton's approach was direct and appetising: a still-life of the foods the Administration encouraged, set against a bold typographic command. The poster is held in the MoMA permanent collection and in the University of North Texas Libraries World War One Collection.
Reproduced using the Giclée process on 200gsm Enhanced Matte Fine Art Paper with pigment-based archival inks, from a restored 1917 source. The amber and green palette works in a kitchen, a dining room, or alongside other documents of the American home-front graphic campaign.
