grodscorp@grods.comWartime propaganda: Leist we forget
 | Posted by Ant Rogenous on Wednesday 30 January 2008, 1:10 pm Categories: Blogosphere, Weird shit Tags: Tags: AANCC, ArtHistory, DarrinHodges, FredLeist, propaganda, war |
I noticed this classic piece of World War I propaganda while checking out Darrin (sic) Hodges’ Anglo-Australian National Community Council website yesterday.
Hodges, it must be said, is an intriguing fellow. Legend has it he founded the AANCC after being denied membership to the Canberra chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, on the basis that he was too ignorant and mean-spirited, and that he spelled “abbows” incorrectly on his application form.
This post isn’t about Hodges, though — if I wanted to discuss excruciating and embarrassing turds, I’d make an appointment to see a proctologist. Rather, it concerns an interesting tale about the creator of this propaganda poster, Australian artist Frederick William Leist (1873–1945).
Fred Leist rose to prominence in the 1890s as an illustrator for The Bulletin and the Sydney Mail. He moved to
But like most artists, Leist found that to make ends meet he had to supplement his art with commissions and odd jobs — and his oddest job of all was designing recruiting posters during World War I.
The poster above was his last, due to a little-known misunderstanding.
In 1916 the War Office commissioned a piece from Leist entitled Australian Chivalry. The creative brief for the poster took the form of a telegraph, which — due to Leist’s experience and exemplary record with the Office — dispensed with the usual detailed instructions and simply requested a “depiction of Digger with crusader; tone more gay than gruesome”.
The wording proved most unfortunate: the War Office couldn’t have known that Leist was well ahead of his time lexicologically; likewise, Leist couldn’t have known that the term “gay” wouldn’t come into popular usage as a euphemism for homosexual for several decades.
An understandably confused Leist, who felt somewhat indebted to the War Office, didn’t want to appear foolish by requesting clarification; so he set about creating three slightly different paintings that would work either as a series or as individual posters, depending on which option best reflected his employer’s concept.
The staunchly conservative War Office was mortified by the posters Leist submitted, but a looming print deadline meant recommissioning the job was not an option. They reluctantly chose the least questionable of the three, paid Leist and never sought his services again.
The complete set was thought to have been lost or destroyed, but as luck would have it was recently discovered on my PC. CLICK HERE to view it.
GrodsThink Ep.31 (16/9/08)
