Commemoration and Creative Responses : Art : Poster and postcard art

Art commissioned through the official war art scheme was exhibited during the war and has been preserved in public galleries. It was not used on postcards or posters in wartime. Those forms served different purposes. In the First World War poster art was used to encourage recruitment and to strengthen war resolve. Posters often made use of popular ideals, such as images of bushmen and sportsmen. As enlistment numbers dropped the tone of the posters changed, with an increasing appeal to women to encourage their menfolk to enlist. Others used grotesque portrayals to generate fear and hatred of the enemy.

Art was used extensively by anti-war movements in the Vietnam era. Examples of posters, flyers and stickers are included in the records of the South Australian organisation, Campaign for Peace in Vietnam, which are held in the archival collection of the State Library.