{"product_id":"original-u-s-wwi-liberty-bonds-beat-back-the-hun-poster-with-artwork-by-federick-strothmann-20-x-30-copy","title":"Original U.S. WWI Liberty Bonds “Beat Back The Hun” Poster with Artwork By Federick Strothmann - 20” x 30”","description":"\u003cp\u003eOriginal Item. Only One Available. This is a fair but very displayable original U.S. WWI “Beat Back the Hun with Liberty Bonds” poster created by illustrator Frederick Strothmann for the Fourth Liberty Loan campaign of 1918. Measuring approximately 20 x 30 inches, the poster retains its powerful original color image but shows substantial age and condition issues, including numerous tape repairs to the reverse, several tears along the upper edge, additional edge tears throughout, and one longer unrepaired tear at the lower left. Despite these problems, the principal artwork and text remain visually strong, and the poster would benefit considerably from professional archival framing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring World War I, American propaganda played on the fears of its citizens, including potential foreign invasion by the 'barbaric Hun.' Such propaganda tactics were used in fundraising campaigns, specifically the Liberty Bond program.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe phrase ‘Hun’ refers to the Hunnic Empire, specifically Attila the Hun in the 5th Century. The term became associated with Germany after Kaiser Wilhelm II gave a speech in 1900, praising the aggressive and merciless tactics of Attilla’s armies. The speech, known as the Hun Speech or Hunnenrede, is considered the origin of the pejorative term.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Beat Back the Hun” was one of many posters issued by the U.S. government during World War I to encourage support of the war. This poster shows a bestial and massive German soldier, his head and shoulders looming over a war-stricken landscape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe artwork was done by Frederick Strothmann. Strothmann was born in New York City in 1872, although some sources say in Philadelphia in 1879. Little is known about his early life, except that his parents were migrants to the United States from Germany. He studied art at the Carl Hecker School of Art in New York, the Royal Academy in Berlin and in Paris.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy 1900, Strothmann was established as an illustrator, working for The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, Life, Harper's Magazine, and Good Housekeeping. He also illustrated many books. Strothmann created a well-known poster for the Liberty Bond drive of 1918, \"Beat back the Hun with Liberty Bonds\", showing a German soldier with blood on his hands, holding a bayonet and coming over the Atlantic Ocean towards burning ruins, which became an iconic image of the First World War.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStrothmann and his family were living in Manhattan at the time of the censuses of 1910, 1920, 1930 and 1940, and he ended his life living in Flushing, Queens, where he died in 1958.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn obituary noted that Strothmann had continued to work as an illustrator until two years before his death.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe poster is in fair condition considering the age, with some heavy tape repairs. There are several tears along the top with one along the bottom as shown. There are heavy repairs to the back, but there is still one longer tear along the bottom left that is not repaired. There are also many small tears along the edges across the poster. This example would look great in a frame.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis remains a highly recognizable piece of American WWI home-front material, combining Frederick Strothmann’s dramatic 1918 artwork, the Fourth Liberty Loan campaign, and one of the most forceful examples of anti-German imagery used in American wartime fundraising. The extensive reverse repairs and tears are significant condition considerations, but the poster retains its full visual impact and remains an important surviving artifact of U.S. wartime propaganda and Liberty Bond fundraising.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Original Items","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45555867779141,"sku":"ONSV26CNB212","price":395.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1524\/1342\/files\/ONSV26CNB212__01.jpg?v=1786718431","url":"https:\/\/www.ima-usa.com\/products\/original-u-s-wwi-liberty-bonds-beat-back-the-hun-poster-with-artwork-by-federick-strothmann-20-x-30-copy","provider":"International Military Antiques","version":"1.0","type":"link"}