2008 Woodie Awards
The world moves on, the past stands still:
One designer's accomplishments are forgotten
COLBY STREAM
News/BizTech Editor
Issue date: 6/18/08 Section: News
It seems Boise State University students have forgotten their past.
In a survey of Boise State students, nine of 10 said they didn't recognize the name James Montgomery Flagg. One said the name sounded familiar but offered no wild exclamation that they remembered for who he was at the mention of his most famous poster.
Imagine a man dressed in a blue jacket, white undershirt and top hat sporting blue with white stars. This man was known as Uncle Sam. He pointed his finger at every American walking by his poster and told them, "I want YOU for U.S. Army."
Flagg created Uncle Sam and the famous saying.
Flagg was born 131 years ago today, according to The Library of Congress "Today in History" page, making his birth date June 18, 1877.
Flagg's work was something of a spectacle long before he created the wartime poster. At the age of 12, he sold his first illustration to the St. Nicholas Magazine. Three years later, he joined the staff at both Life and Judge.
Around the year 1900, Flagg went to England and France to study painting. While there, he wrote a book called "Yankee Girls Abroad" and tried his hand at portrait painting. He later decided this was not his cup of tea and returned to illustration. This decision came even after the Paris Salon accepted one of his portraits.
In addition to his poster and other illustration accomplishments, Flagg studied at the Arts Students League in New York City and then later at the Herkomer School in England.
Today, Flagg is an important figure in America's past that very few remember. Even, it seems, to students at a university on its way to becoming a "Metropolitan Research University of Distinction."
In a survey of Boise State students, nine of 10 said they didn't recognize the name James Montgomery Flagg. One said the name sounded familiar but offered no wild exclamation that they remembered for who he was at the mention of his most famous poster.
Imagine a man dressed in a blue jacket, white undershirt and top hat sporting blue with white stars. This man was known as Uncle Sam. He pointed his finger at every American walking by his poster and told them, "I want YOU for U.S. Army."
Flagg created Uncle Sam and the famous saying.
Flagg was born 131 years ago today, according to The Library of Congress "Today in History" page, making his birth date June 18, 1877.
Flagg's work was something of a spectacle long before he created the wartime poster. At the age of 12, he sold his first illustration to the St. Nicholas Magazine. Three years later, he joined the staff at both Life and Judge.
Around the year 1900, Flagg went to England and France to study painting. While there, he wrote a book called "Yankee Girls Abroad" and tried his hand at portrait painting. He later decided this was not his cup of tea and returned to illustration. This decision came even after the Paris Salon accepted one of his portraits.
In addition to his poster and other illustration accomplishments, Flagg studied at the Arts Students League in New York City and then later at the Herkomer School in England.
Today, Flagg is an important figure in America's past that very few remember. Even, it seems, to students at a university on its way to becoming a "Metropolitan Research University of Distinction."
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