During World War I, the visual arts in America were an important part of the war effort. Both the government and the private sector used cartoons, poster art, film, and even individual artists as part of this orchestrated effort. In 1917, less than a week after the United States entered the war, President Woodrow Wilson created a Committee on Public Information, which included a Films Division, a News Division, and a Division of Pictorial Publicity.

The Division of Pictorial Publicity used the most talented advertising illustrators and cartoonists of the time. These artists worked closely with the Advertising Division, which induced magazines and newspapers to donate advertising space to help the war effort. For the first time, the United States government specifically commissioned eight artists, mostly experienced magazine illustrators, to go to the front to produce patriotic images of the American...