Antique Image of the Day: Women - There's work to be done and a war to be won... Now!, 1944

Propaganda Poster
Vernon Grant, 1944
The Victoria & Albert Museum

World War II was, by no means, fun. Not for anyone. But, makers of propaganda posters tried their best to make the situation seem as surmountable and endurable as possible. While the women left at the home front during the First World War were just as involved, a concerted movement was made during the second war to make women’s war work seem light and enjoyable. Posters were created in a cartoonish style which presented this grueling labor during a tragic time as something light-hearted.

This 1944 poster, for example, is the work of Vernon Grant, a celebrated children’s artist who is also well known as the creator of the original characters of “Snap, Crackle and Pop,” for Kellogg’s Cereal.

Here, Grant depicts eleven women working at various jobs to aid the war effort. The message of the poster becomes its visual centerpiece as the women seem to be working to create red block letters that spell out “WOMEN.” The message in reinforced with the text: “There’s work to be done and a war to be won...Now!"