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.