James Montgomery Flagg

James Montgomery Flagg, 1915, photographed by Arnold Genthe

James Montgomery Flagg (June 18, 1877 – May 27, 1960) was an American artist and illustrator. He worked in media ranging from fine art painting to cartooning, but is best remembered for his posters.

Flagg was born in Pelham Manor, New York. He was enthusiastic about drawing from a young age, and had illustrations accepted by national magazines by the age of 12 years. By 14 he was a contributing artist for Life Magazine, and the following year was on the staff of Judge Magazine. He studied fine art in London and Paris 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 America^{[citation needed]}.

His most famous poster was created in 1917 to encourage recruitment in the United States Army during World War I. It showed Uncle 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 for World 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

Flagg's famous Uncle Sam recruitment poster

Columbia urges planting Victory Gardens

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

James Montgomery Flagg

• James Montgomery Flagg posters, hosted by the University of North Texas Libraries Digital Collections
• James Montgomery Flagg's 1917 "I Want You" Poster and other works (Internet Archive copy from 2004 October 28)
• James Montgomery Flagg on Budd Plant's Illustrated Books site

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