Aug 04, 2010 - Sale 2220

Sale 2220 - Lot 42

Price Realized: $ 8,400
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
JAMES MONTGOMERY FLAGG (1870-1960) WAKE UP AMERICA DAY. 1917.
41x28 inches, 104x71 cm.
Condition B+ / A-: tears in margins and image. Paper.
With a tip of the three-cornered hat to the story of Paul Revere, a patriotic young lady is running with a lantern in one hand and a flag in the other, to warn the populace of the impending conflagration of World War I. Through 1917, the Great War had been primarily a European affair. A distant, isolated America was physically and psychologically far removed from the fray. Yet the winds of war were not ignored by all. Before the United States officially entered the war, private groups of concerned citizens took it upon themselves to begin preparing America for the upcoming battle. Flagg was responsible for two of these images. This, the rarer of the two, is a departure from the artist's usual style and represents his "only attempt at modernity." (Meehan 20). Flagg 69, Johnson 25, Rawls 136.