1914 Britons Kitchener Wants You
AW_1008
$18.00
A British WWI recruiting poster from 1914, showing a depiction of Lord Kitchener in his Field Marshal uniform, encouraging more men to enlist. When restoring this poster's image we decided to leave the ragged right hand edge as it is, rather than trying to make it look undamaged.
Australia pledged a force of 20,000 men to fight in WWI. Posters were used for various government propaganda campaigns during the war, often to encourage men to enlist. This is one of the most famous, and its design has been famously copied by other causes. The British design features Lord Kitchener, the British Secretary of State for War, and was created by Alfred Leete in 1914.
When war was declared, the fighting was expected to be over by Christmas. For Australia, WWI would become our costliest conflict in terms of deaths and causalities. More than 400,000 men enlisted at a time when our population was less than five million, with more than 60,000 killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed or taken prisoner. WWI eventually ended on 11 November, 1918.
All text © HotPress
The notes from the State Library of Victoria tell us this about the image - "Imprint l.l.: Printed by the Victoria House Printing Co., Ltd., Tudor Street, London, E.C. Signed in the image l.l.: ALFRED / LEETE"."
This is a digitally retouched reproduction of the original held by the State Library of Victoria. All prints are reproduced without the HOTPRESS watermarks.
Our team of conservators have worked on a high resolution digital image in order to remove blemishes and artifacts such as stains, mould, scratches and damage caused by the handling of the original. We strive to provide authentic representations of the original work that are suitable for enlargements that retain the tones and character of the original.
