Offset color lithographic poster with 2 hands grasping an oversize, yellow, woven bushel basket superimposed over a farm with rows of green crops being harvested by people with similar baskets. In the distance are a red barn and grain silo, windmill, and a white farmhouse and a light blue sky. The slogan is printed across the basket and along the bottom of the poster. On the back is a paragraph of explanatory text and mailing information; it was folded into quarters for convenient mailing.
Stevan Dohanos (1907-1994) was a Connecticut-based commercial artist well known for designing magazine covers, murals, posters, and stamps. He was born to Hungarian immigrants in the steel town of Lorain, Ohio. As a young man, Stevan took a correspondence course in art, and later received a scholarship to the Cleveland School of Art. In the mid-1930’s, Stevan moved to New York City to work for an advertising agency. He also worked for a U.S. Treasury Department art project to create murals on public buildings. In the early 1940’s, Stevan moved to an artist colony in Westport, Connecticut, and sold his first cover to the Saturday Evening Post. During World War II, he painted murals and recruitment and propaganda posters to support the war effort. During the 1940’s and 1950’s, he sold more than 125 covers to the Post. Stevan also designed more than forty stamps for the federal government, spending the latter part of his career focusing on stamp designs and film art.
War Food poster with a basket over a field being harvested
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overall: Height: 28.000 inches (71.12 cm) | Width: 21.875 inches (55.563 cm)
The poster was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1988 by David and Zelda Silberman.
War Food Administration poster urging people to help harvest farm crops to aid the war effort and to send to the soldiers overseas. In 1942, the Emergency Price Control Act was passed and the US began rationing food and other goods to make sure they were available to aid Allies and to supply the military. From March 1943-June 1945, the War Food Administration was set up to handle food production and distribution for civilian and war needs. People were encouraged to grow Victory Gardens due to farm labor, transportation, and food shortages. Nutrition programs were introduced to educate the public about healthful eating, food preservation, and efficient food usage to reduce waste. Ration stamps for food purchase were introduced to regulate food consumption. Posters such as this were distributed to retailers and public groups for display.