WILLIAM GROPPER (1897 1977) Keep Him on the RunBuy More Bond

Sale 2574 - Lot 161

Price Realized: $ 8,125

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 6,000 - $ 9,000

WILLIAM GROPPER (1897-1977)
"Keep Him on the Run/Buy More Bonds." Maquette for a Liberty Loan poster, circa 1943-44. Oil on canvas. 1016x762 mm; 40x30 inches. Signed "Gropper" lower left. Frame has plaque that reads "Presented by the War Finance Division of/the United States Treasury Department to/Northampton County/for Meritorious Service in the War Bond Program."

Exhibited: ACA Galleries and Associated American Artists.

Born in New York City into a family of Jewish immigrants, Gropper is best known for satirical cartoons and images about war, politics, and social injustice. He began his career with the New York Tribune and published in mainstream magazines like Vanity Fair, but he also contributed to more radical left-wing magazines, including The Masses and Liberator, and Communist publications, such as Freiheit and the Daily Worker. Though Gropper was later branded a Communist and was blacklisted in the post-war McCarthy era, this did not deter the artist from continuing to create satirical images that revealed his political and social views which conservatives deemed radical.

This large maquette for a well-known Liberty Loan poster reflects Gropper's dedication to raising opposition to fascism in Europe in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

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