What is an Illustration?

 

     This illustration is one meant to advertise, sway, instruct, inform; all of these but overall it is for the purpose of propaganda. This was part of the propaganda campaign of WWII, which help vilify and cement in the public’s mind who the enemy was. It was not Darth Vader as current culture might mistake the soldier for, but the villain is the German soldier and Germany. The sender of the message was the message itself, informing the general public to be careful what they did and said because Germans were always watching and waiting in dark shadows to pounce on the unsuspecting civilian population. 

     I’m assuming the message was commissioned by the American or British government as the artist, Glenn Grohe, lived in Illinois, which  leads me to believe it was the American government who commissioned it.

     The poster is an offset lithograph. I chose the overall genre of propaganda from WWII to search, as it was the first to spring to mind when I thought of visual communication with illustration. I originally thought of “Rosie” but decided to search for another image which may not be as widely-known.