Aug 04, 2022 - Sale 2612

Sale 2612 - Lot 115

Price Realized: $ 3,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000

KARL KOEHLER (1913-2000) & VICTOR ANCONA (1912-1998)

THIS IS THE ENEMY. 1942.


34x24 inches, 86 1/2x61 cm. Grinnell Lithographic Co., New York.
Condition A-: minor tears and abrasions at edges. Paper.

The horrifying scene of a hanging reflects in the monocle of this high-ranking member of Germany's military. "At the start of the United States' involvement in World War II, the Roosevelt administration felt the need to counter the powerful anti-war messages of such media figures as newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst and radio personality Father Coughlin. [This image] echoes Roosevelt's characterization of the Axis powers as gangsters, bandits and criminals," (American p. 105). This chilling image was the winner of the National War Poster Competition of 1942 held under the auspices of the Museum of Modern Art. American Style 67, Modern Poster 193, Modern American 55, Avant Garde p. 177, Rhodes p. 168, Pollack p. 229, MoMA 147.1968.