Destroy this Mad Brute: Enlist by Harry R. Hopps Leads Potter & Potter Auctions’ Upcoming Vintage Posters Sale

The upcoming Vintage Posters sale from Potter & Potter Auctions will offer a Destroy this Mad Brute: Enlist poster by Harry R. Hopps (1869 – 1937). This poster from 1917 predates King Kong by more than a decade. In this propaganda poster, Hopps uses powerful imagery to depict a bloodied gorilla representing the German army. The brute gorilla, wearing a pickelhaube helmet labeled “militarism,” steps foot onto an American shore as Europe lies in ruin in the distance. The enraged gorilla grips a half-naked Lady Liberty captive in one arm while his other carries a bloody club marked “Kultur.” The image was intended to rouse its audience to join the cause against the “German militarism” threatening American liberty. 

An upward view of the massive ocean liner Normandie with a flock of seagulls is depicted in another available poster by A. M. Cassandre (1901 – 1968). When the SS Normandie first set sail from Saint-Nazaire, France, in 1932, it was the largest and fastest steamship ever created. Completing its first voyage to New York in record time, Normandie became a national symbol of France’s leading position in the shipping industry. The poster of the Transatlantique French Line Normandie was printed in 1935 by Alliance Graphique. This poster for the SS Normandie by Cassandre is considered a masterpiece of Art Deco by many art historians. The glamour and excitement of ocean liner travel were marketed with such images. Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron (also known as A. M. Cassandre) was a modernist poster artist, painter, graphic designer, and stage designer who began his career in Paris in 1923. One of his most recognized works remains the Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) monogram. Visit Potter & Potter Auctions’ website to view the complete catalog and register to bid in this Vintage Posters sale.