Original Items. One-of-a-Kind Set. This is an extraordinary set of hand-painted canvas circus-style display boards painted for a homefront show which showed photographs and “moving pictures” from the “Great Battlefields of France and the Americans in Action”. These were painted by Lieutenant Howard Allison Phillips of Newark, Ohio, who served in the Quartermaster Corps during the war, and who later in life owned a studio of commercial arts in Elmwood Court. The set consists of one very large 70 x 142” board depicting soldiers in the trenches, on artillery pieces, planes dropped bombs from the sky, destroyed French homes, and a field of poppies and grave marker crosses, with two smaller 35 x 79” banner style boards, and nine small pieces meant to be used as cue cards or additional advertisement. These would have been hung outside of the venue where these photos and moving pictures were shown.

The first large canvas board measures an astounding 70 x 142”, with three large leather-reinforced hanging rings along the top, two along the bottom, and scattered grommets on the side and bottom. The board is painted in the center with a motif of four soldiers manning an artillery piece with a fifth man either killed or exhausted laid up against the wheel. In the background are destroyed French homes and trees, while to the right is No Man’s Land with soldiers in the trenches behind it, watching planes drop bombs and anti-aircraft fire exploding in the air. To the far left is a field of poppy flowers and memorial crosses. The board is painted:

THE GREAT BATTLEFIELDS
of FRANCE
and THE AMERICANS IN ACTION

“IN FLANDERS FIELDS THE POPPIES GROW
BETWEEN THE CROSSES, ROW ON ROW”

It is signed in the bottom right corner:

Howard A. Phillips
Newark, Ohio

The paint remains extremely well retained considering the age, size and intended use of the canvas. The surviving hanging hardware makes the piece particularly suitable for a major wall or exhibition display, although the rings are reinforced with old leather and we cannot guarantee their ability to support the weight of the canvas safely over the long term. Any permanent installation should take the age of these supports into consideration.

The two smaller banner-style boards both have the same base design, with an exploding shell in the air over a slanted memorial cross with poppies growing around it. They are slanted in opposite directions, so these were likely meant to hang on either side of the central larger canvas. The first measures 35 x 79” with two rings along the bottom (none at the top), and reads:

WE WILL SEE
OUR BOYS IN BATTLE
CHATEAU THIERY
GREAT ARGONNE FOREST
THE FRENCH
GO OVER THE TOP
NO MAN’S LAND
GERMAN AEROPLANES
ETC.!!! ETC.!!!

The second measures 35 x 81 1/2” with two rings along the bottom (none at the top), and reads:

GREATEST PICTURES of ACTUAL
BATTLE EVER TAKEN
OUR BOYS LYING WOUNDED
ON THE FIELD of BATTLE
The GREAT
AMERICAN CEMETERIES
OUR BOYS ON THE RHINE
ETC.!!!
ETC.!!!

The nine small cue cards measure around 14 ¾ x 17 ¾” with some being a little smaller or a little bigger. They may have been used as intermission cards shown between photos and moving pictures, or may have been hung around these other boards as additional advertising. They are painted black with the words painted in yellow. They include:

- 90% of the People Enjoy these Real War Scenes.
- Where you see the American Boys in Action
- A Real Show for 100% American
- You Must Be Satisfied.
- See our Boys Go Over the Top.
- A History of the Great War in Pictures.
- See No Mans land.
- See the last Resting Place of Quentin Roosevelt.
- In flanders field the Poppies Grow.

This is a truly astounding group of hand-painted canvas displays which were certainly used sometime in 1919 for a homefront show depicting American boys overseas. We did some digging to try and uncover the exact place and time when these were used, but no records in newspapers could be found, although we did find record of the artist, Howard Allison Phillips, who did own a commercial art studio later in life. This gives great provenance to who actually painted these, and leaves an avenue open for further research. We can assume that this was painted for a show in Newark, Ohio, but it is just as likely that Phillips chose to paint his home under his name, and may have painted these for a show anywhere in the U.S.. Perhaps some digging into the local records in Newark could provide more information.

What survives is an exceptional ensemble of American WWI popular and commercial art on a scale rarely encountered. The monumental central battlefield scene, complementary poppy and memorial cross banners, nine surviving advertising cards, unusually vivid painted lettering and the signed attribution to Howard A. Phillips together preserve the visual language used to present the recently ended Great War to American audiences. Rather than a single poster or isolated painted sign, this is an extensive matching display group that appears to preserve much of the visual advertising associated with one wartime picture presentation. Its enormous scale would make it especially effective in a museum exhibition or a major collection devoted to WWI American material, homefront culture, military artwork, early motion picture exhibition, battlefield tourism or the public memory of the Great War.