- James Montgomery Flagg
James Montgomery Flagg 1877 –
May 27 ,1960 ) was an Americanartist andillustrator . He worked in media ranging from fine artpainting tocartooning , but is best remembered for hisposter s.Flagg was born in
Pelham Manor, New York . He was enthusiastic about drawing from a young age, and had illustrations accepted by nationalmagazine s by the age of 12 years. By 14 he was a contributing artist forLife Magazine , and the following year was on the staff ofJudge Magazine . He studied fine art inLondon andParis in his early 20s, then returned to the United States, where he produced illustrations for books, magazine covers, political and humorous cartoons, advertising, and spot drawings prolifically. At his peak, Flagg was reported to have been the highest paid magazine illustrator in AmericaFact|date=February 2007.His most famous poster was created in 1917 to encourage recruitment in the
United States Army duringWorld War I . It showedUncle Sam pointing at the viewer (inspired by a British recruitment poster showing Lord Kitchener in a similar pose) with the caption "I Want YOU for U. S. Army". Over 4 million copies of the poster were printed during World War I, and it was revived forWorld War II . Flagg used his own face for that of Uncle Sam (adding age and the white goatee), he said later simply to avoid the trouble of arranging for a model.In 1946 Flagg published his
autobiography , "Roses and Buckshot".James Montgomery Flagg died in
New York City .Work
External links
* [http://digital.library.unt.edu/search/?q=%22Flagg%2C+James+Montgomery%22&t=agent James Montgomery Flagg posters] , hosted by the [http://digital.library.unt.edu/ University of North Texas Libraries Digital Collections]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20041028073959/http://members.rogers.com/29194174476/posterdata1.htm James Montgomery Flagg's 1917 "I Want You" Poster and other works] (Internet Archive copy from 2004 October 28)
* [http://www.bpib.com/illustra2/flagg.htm James Montgomery Flagg on Budd Plant's Illustrated Books site]
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