On your wall
The WPA & the Golden Age · The American Golden Age
Destroy this mad brute — Enlist, U.S. Army
Harry Ryle Hopps (1869-1937) · U.S. Army recruiting, 1917
What it is
Harry Ryle Hopps drew the German army as a slavering ape: helmet lettered 'militarism', club lettered 'kultur', a half-clothed woman under one arm, and a ruined Europe at its back as it steps onto American sand.
Why it matters
Nothing subtle survives here — the recruiting line 'Enlist' sits small beneath an image built entirely to frighten. It remains one of the most reproduced and most argued-over posters of the First World War.
What to notice
A gorilla in a spiked helmet wades ashore with a bloody club marked 'kultur' — American propaganda at its most unhinged.
The years America learned to argue, sell, and dream in ink.
Provenance
- School
- The American Golden Age — the Poster before 1931 (United States)
- Designer
- Harry Ryle Hopps (1869-1937)
- Format
- Political poster
- Poster published
- U.S. Army recruiting, 1917
- Source
- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division · LC-DIG-ds-03216
Rights: CLEAR. Public domain — U.S. 95-year rule (published 1930 or earlier). Gated by the poster’s own publication year. Cleared by registry on 2026-07-18.
Format
The full-resolution, color-managed file — restored honestly, yours to print and keep.
Sized to protect print quality — this scan supports sizes up to 40x60" cleanly.
Size
$29.00
