EDWARD MCKNIGHT KAUFFER (1890-1954) LUTAMOS - PELA LIBERDADE DE TODOS. 20 1/8x14 1/8 inches. Condition A-: creases in image. In 1942 the Office of Inter-American Affairs, headed by Nelson A. Rockefeller, commissioned some of the most preemminent modern American designers of the day (E. McKnight Kauffer, Herbert Bayer, John Atherton and Alexey Brodovitch), to create posters for distribution in Latin America. These posters appeared early on in America's involvement in the war and were intended to sway Latin American opinion against the Axis powers and to increase the solidarity of the Western hemisphere. They were much more artistically progressive than other World War II propaganda images. The heart of the series were images illustrating Theodore Roosevelt's Four Freedoms, as stated to the United States Congress in January, 1941: Freedom from Fear, Freedom From Want, Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion. Kauffer designed at least three posters as part of this campaign: Liberdade Politica (see Swann Modernist Poster auction #2079, lot 177), El Nuevo Orden (see Swann Modernist Poster auction #2079, lot 174) and this minimal, iconic image. The simple graphic and text patriotically profess that America fights for the liberty of all. Portuguese version. Kauffer 276.
