"Original WWII Poster by “Fougasse”
Fougasse - Cyril Kenneth Bird, (1887-1965), illustrator for Punch (from 1937 to 1949, and a wounded vet of Gallipoli in the First War)” “Careless Talk Costs Lives”.
This is one of eight posters in the very popular “Careless Talk Costs Lives” wartime propaganda series issued by the Ministry of Information and printed in the year of terrible and great struggle in Great Britain, 1940. 32x22cm, color lithograph, and printed on paper (though some were originally issued affixed to cardboard or another stiffer board).
The series in general depicts people sharing a piece of possibly sensitive information that in the wrong hands and together with other pieces of info could reveal devastating secrets—and in each case there are figures lurking/loitering/disguised in the background waiting to collect the data, and generally a poorly disguised Hitler or Goering or both. Fougasse was able to make his message immediately memorable and understood because I think of his understated over-the-top visual humor. The images were funny, but the message was deadly serious. Also, you really didn't even need to read the text to understand the message. (This is in the same vein as some of Thomas Nast's finest work, conveying social content and a political message to the illiterate, making his devastating (and usually highly textual) cartoons understandable without needing to read them.)
(1) "Strictly Between Four Walls". In this poster (made a convenient size to be useful in virtually any small area and also abiding the wartime paper shortage) we see two men in big club chairs about to share some bit while the artwork-ensconced Hitler waits to hear the interesting parts. Fine condition. 1940. 32x22cm, color lithograph, and printed on paper $175
(2) "Be Careful What You Say and Where You Say It!" 1940. 32x22cm, color lithograph, and printed on paper. Here two chaps share suds in a Hitler-infused pub. Unfortunately there is a 15x15mm chip out of the image at middle-right edge, otherwise this is a nice crisp image. $100
(3) "But of Course it Mustn't Go Any Further!", say two blokes in a 2nd class railway cabin, the feet and legs of Goering and Hitler dangling over them as they share their unsharable war information. Fine copy. 1940. 32x22cm, color lithograph, and printed on paper. $200
(4) "You Never Know Who's Listening!". Two ladies on a bus share some wartime news while Hitler and Goering sit aloof and patient, absorbing all. 1940. 32x22cm, color lithograph, and printed on paper. Fine condition. $200
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