1918 Pershing Cables Shipping Board Emergency Fleet WWI William Oberhardt

Date: 1918
Artist: Oberhardt, William 
Size (in): 32” x 22.25”
Size (cm): 81.3 x 56.5
Condition: B+/A-
Linen backed: No

This vintage original poster featuring a bust portrait of General John J. Pershing by the artist William Oberhardt was issued by the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation in 1918.   The poster prints a congratulatory telegram sent by Pershing thanking America shipbuilding workers and management for their contribution to the war effort.   General “Black Jack” Pershing was an immensely popular figure in the United States for his leadership of American forces in the First World War and the only man to be promoted to the rank of General of the Armies during his lifetime.  Only two other men were promoted to the rank of General of the Armies, the highest military rank in the United States, George Washington and Ulysses S. Grant who both received  the honor posthumously.   The artist William Oberhardt was one of the most popular illustrators working in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s who created the artwork for the first ever cover of Time Magazine in 1923.     

This original antique poster is free of tape or pinholes and was probably never hung up or used.  The poster shows moderate handling wear including some bumping to the edges and couple short half inch tears without paper loss on the edges.  The poster has an ink handstamp from the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation at the bottom center.  Overall condition is very good.