Art & Social Issues in American Culture
Home Economics War Race & Ethnicity Resources Contact Us

WWII

War Bulletins

by Leo Meissner

A ghostly assemblage of figures clusters four and five deep with upturned faces to stare at a war bulletin during 1942. The bulletin is the dramatic source of light that illuminates the front of each concerned figure.   Though people are shown only in profile we can read their disquiet.  

This dramatic wood engraving was shown in the 1943 traveling exhibition of prints America in the War sponsored by Artists for Victory. 

Artists for Victory was formed in January 1942 by the merger of two New York artists groups, the National Art Council for Defense and the Artists Societies for Defense that had been created in late 1941.

The exhibition was a result of a competition in which printmakers were invited to submit prints that conveyed the impact of the war on the life of the American people.

Learn more about this artist:
t

Artist Biography

Lesson Plans

Leo Meissner - War Bulletins

Leo Meissner, War Bulletins, 1942.  Wood engraving, 6 x 9 in. 

Museum Purchase, Derby Fund, from the Philip J. and Suzanne Schiller Collection of American Social Commentary Art 1930-1970

Within WWII...
James Guy John McClellan Leo Meissner Philip Reisman David Robbins

WWI The Rise of Fascism Spanish Civil War
WWII Cold War Vietnam War
Werner Drews
James Guy
Edward Hagedorn
Rockwell Kent
Joseph Leboit
John McClellan
Miriam McKinnie Hofmeier
Leo Meissner
Bernard Perlin
Anton Refreiger
Philip Reisman
David Robbins
Ben Shahn
Harry Sternberg
Stuyvesant Van Veen


Contact Us : Rights and Reproductions : Acknowledgements

Columbus Museum of Art

© 2006
480 East Broad Street, Columbus, OH 43215 614.221.6801