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LEO LIONNI (1910-1999)
213
●
KEEP ‘EM ROLLING! Group of 4 posters. 1941.
40x29
3
/
4
inches, 101
1
/
2
x75
1
/
2
cm. U.S. Government Printing Office, [Washington, D.C.]
Condition varies, generally B+: staining in margins and image; minor tears and creases in margins. Paper.
These exceptional, patriotic work incentive posters were issued by the Office of Emergency
Management right on the cusp of America’s entry into the Second World War. “With the war still an
abstraction for most Americans, these posters connected what happened ‘here’ and ‘over there’”
(Resnick p. 68). Lionni used his experience in advertising to visually connect these patriotic ideals to
his audience, and he “[along with Herbert Matter, Lester Beall and Milton Ackoff ] carried
photographic poster illustration to new heights of inventiveness. [He was] able to bring the clean
asymmetry of Bauhaus design into everyday life in this country long before Gropius and Mies Van der
Rohe were given an opportunity to do so in architecture” (Word & Image p. 62). Born in Holland,
Lionni grew up in Italy before finding success as an advertiser and Art Director in America. His
advertising credits include work for Olivetti typewriters, Chrysler and Ford. Resnick 38, Word &
Image p. 90, Modern Poster 196, The Poster p. 202, Fotoplakate 20, Modern American 50-1, MoMA
880.1979, MoMA 151.1968.
[3,000/4,000]