Organizing Enthusiasm:

Poster Art in the First World War

ALBERT MARRIN

^ S a result of the recent donation of the Frankenhuis Poster
Collection, Columbia now possesses one of the most
-important privately held collections of posters and
proclamations of the First World AVar and its immediate after¬
math. Its importance may be estimated from some statistics. Ap¬
proximately 30,000 posters and proclamations were published by
the belligerent powers between 1914 and 1918. No collection is
complete, including that of the British Museum, which was en¬
titled by law to a copy of every poster printed in the United King¬
dom, but renounced its right, having become frustrated in its
efforts to deal with the paper deluge. Many publicly owned col¬
lections, on the other hand, are surprisingly small. The Musee des
Deux Guerres Mondiales in Paris has a collection of some 5,000
posters from both world conflicts. The Frankenhuis Collection
consists of nearly 4,800 items which, combined with existing
holdings, brings the Columbia ^\'orld A\'ar I poster collection to
nearly 8,000 items. The collection includes works by such artists
as Kiithe KoUwitz, C. R. W. Nevinson, .Muirhead Bone, Joseph
Pennell, Louis Raemaekers, Howard Chandler Christy, and James
Montgomery Flagg. There is even a poster by Lord Baden-Powell,
hero of the siege of AJafeking during the Boer ^Var and founder of
the Boy Scout movement.

The Frankenhuis Collection has an interesting history. iVIaurice
Frankenhuis (1893-1969) was a Dutch businessman who since
childhood had had a passion for collecting historical memorabilia.
In addition to posters, he assembled a remarkable collection of
autographs, postage stamps, books, and gold and silver coins and