Vintage Poster Archives
Food Will Win War 1917 | Charles Chambers Propaganda Poster
Food Will Win War 1917 | Charles Chambers Propaganda Poster
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Immigrants stand at their ship's rail as New York Harbor opens before them: the Statue of Liberty rises beneath a red, white and blue rainbow, the Manhattan skyline gleaming beyond. Charles Edward Chambers painted this scene in 1917 for the United States Food Administration, part of Herbert Hoover's campaign to encourage voluntary food conservation during World War I.
The composition places hope and duty in the same frame. The immigrants who came seeking freedom are now asked to help preserve it through wheat conservation for the allies. Chambers rendered each figure with individual dignity, faces turned toward Liberty, expressions suggesting the weight of new citizenship in wartime.
Produced as poster number 18 in the Food Administration series, this lithograph was also printed in Yiddish, Italian, Spanish and Hungarian to reach immigrant communities across America. The rainbow serves as both blessing and reminder: America as promised land, America as responsibility.
Archival print on 200gsm Enhanced Matte Fine Art Paper preserves Chambers' subtle colour gradations from harbor blue to golden sky.
