Context of Practice – Image Analysis

 The Uncle Sam Range (1876) - Advertising Image by Schumacher & Ettlinger - New York

Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War? (1915) - Propaganda poster by Savile Lumley - Great Britain

The posters, although produced almost forty years apart, are both attempting to sell aspirational lifestyles. The aspirational lifestyles they are trying to sell, however, are very different; yet some of the methods and means are very similar.

The aspirational lifestyle that is being sold by The Uncle Sam Range poster is that of the ‘American dream’, with almost everything in the image adorning stars & stripes or blue, white and red. It shows off all that America has achieved and why it is superior to the rest of the world. The lifestyle depicted in the Savile Lumley poster is a more subdued one, yet that does not detract from the power of the message. Whereas The Uncle Sam Range is very bold and upfront, this poster is much more subtle. Each element of this poster provideds a different attribute, juxtaposed with The Uncle Sam Range where the focus is entirely on the ‘American dream’. Within the Lumley poster there are elements of pressure, guilt, love and proudness (or the lack of).

Each work is extremely patriotic and stereotypical in its own context. The Uncle Sam Range’s plastering of the American flag and American imagery (note the eagle on Uncle Sam’s shoulder and the declaration of independence on the wall) and Lumley’s well-dressed family man, portray each country as they wish to be seen. Both pull at men’s desires and anxieties to be the head of the house, the supplier and the protector. To fulfil these desires and anxieties the individual man must do two very different things; in The Uncle Sam Range it is as simple as buying the range that the poster is selling, however, in the Lumley poster it is something much more serious. The fonts used in each poster add to the stereotypical image that they are both creating. The main font used in The Uncle Sam Range poster has the feeling of a saloon bar somewhere in the ‘wild west’. Similarly the Lumley poster uses a very elegant and sophisticated font, showing class, fitting with the image and message the poster is trying to portray.

Another notable element, that is common in both posters, is the feeling of arrogance. The Uncle Sam Range poster is very arrogant in that it portrays America as the ultimate power; they are cooking for the world and the world has come to them for food. The black slave in the corner also adds to the all-powerful, controlling image that was common at the time. The arrogance in Lumley’s poster is a very presumptuous arrogance, assuming that we won the war and that it was ‘the Great War’.

Both posters depict patriotic, aspirational lifestyles, with both posters aimed at men fulfilling their societal role as the head of the house. Where one is extremely detailed and artistic, selling a fairly futile aspirational lifestyle compared to the other, the other has much deeper connotations and much more emotional engagement. The Lumley poster is much simpler, yet is more powerful and has more of an impact by pulling at the viewer's emotions.