Description
This is a fascinating framed patriotic poster from during the Great War. Similar items were employed by all of WW I’s participants to boost home front morale, recruit troops, encourage home front volunteering, AND raise additional funds for an increasingly expensive war effort. Our offering today depicts a design for an Imperial German War Bond. It is printed in black, blue, green, and gold ink. The poster is in excellent condition. Although it was framed later in the 20th Century, its simple style is compatible with its originating time period. The frame is high-quality, while the poster itself boasts a double matte. The outer matte is white, while the inner matte is black. Within the matting, the poster measures 10” x 12 ½.” Its black frame measures 19” x 21 ½.” An open-beaked black Imperial German war eagle’s head (accented with gold highlights) dominates the poster’s top section. A white dove flies immediately below the eagle, its outstretched wing almost caressing the eagle’s neck. The dove, whose details are outlined in blue/green, carries a gold-leaf olive branch in its beak. The two birds are soaring above a stylized German countryside that greatly resembles those depicted in Medieval German woodcuts. The poster’s bottom section features the title “Zeichnet Kriegsanleihe” (War Bond Design). Its artist’s name, K. Gigrift, appears beneath the bottom right section of the countryside. More production information appears at the poster’s bottom. The lower left corner reads “Entwurf (Design): RmK Sigrift, Stuttgart-Kaltenthal.” The lower right corner reads “Lith. u. Druck: Eckstein & Stähle, Kgl. [Königlich] Hofkunstanstalt, Stuttgart” (Lithographer & Printer: Eckstein & Stähle Royal Court Printing Works, Stuttgart. It is a very handsome poster that did what it could to help promote funding the war effort.
