1942 Keep It Under Your Stetson by Edward McKnight Kauffer Hitler Wants To Know What You Know
- Date: 1942
- Artist: Kauffer, Edward McKnight
- Size (in): 39” x 29.5”
- Size (cm): 97.5 x 73.75
- Condition: A-
- Linen backed: Yes
This intriguing Modernist poster by Edward McKnight Kauffer delivers both a vital wartime message and serves as an advertising piece for the John B. Stetson Company. This poster is one in the Keep It Under Your Stetson series created during WWII for the John B. Stetson Company known the world over as a maker of stylish hats.
American-born Kauffer’s long career in graphic design began in Great Britain where his clients included the London Underground and the Shell Oil Company among others. At the outbreak of the Second World War Kauffer returned to the United States where his skill as a poster designer was deployed in support of the Allied cause. Photomontage design is used to place a large Stetson hat on a set of blueprints in the shape of a man’s head with smoke billowing from the stacks of a distant factory. Dark shadowing frames the image to add emphasis to the poster’s grave message – Hitler Wants To Know What You Know.
This poster is expertly backed to linen with modest professional repair and touchup to restore the original condition as much as possible. Overall condition is very good.
