The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American Art has recently released this marvelous complement to a touring exhibit of the same name. It is highlighted by 137 posters in the topics of American Events, Designed to Sell, Advice to Americans, and Patriotic Persuasion at this time. Each poster contains a captioned image of the poster, with information about the artist, a hyperlink to a larger image, and one or more detailed images of part of the poster. There is also an introductory essay by Elizabeth Brown, director of NMAA, a how to section that demonstrates selected principles of offset lithography and poster making, a RealPlayer interview with poster collector Merrill C. Berman, and a section that discusses the impact of American culture on posters, using examples such as Franklin Roosevelt's Four Freedoms, Rock 'N Roll, and the Civil Rights movement, among others. This section is peppered with RealPlayer interviews and music selections.
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