State-Side View Cheney Cowles Museum Looks At World War Ii Through The E Of The Home Front
Unlikely as it might seem in a year saturated with World War II recollections, the Cheney Cowles Museum is about to present a 50-years-ago perspective that hasn’t been done to death.
Thirty-six dramatic posters will be the stars of a show that looks at efforts to rally the home front.
They range from striking war bonds promotions to one emblazoned with “Log Like Hell!” - exhorting those harvesting timber as part of the war effort to give it their all. “The woods are also a front line,” it continues, in smaller type.
Organizers say this will be one of the more powerful main-gallery exhibitions Cheney Cowles has ever presented. “It’s going to be a knockout,” said Larry Schoonover, the museum’s deputy director.
The show is called “Behind the Red, White and Blue: Posters, Propaganda and Pride.” And it opens Thursday night with a kick-off party. Tickets are $8 per person, $15 per couple. Call (509) 456-3931.
In addition to the vintage posters, some of which were produced locally, the gallery will house a full-size 1940s living room replica, multiple period artifacts and interpretive panels highlighting the global conflict’s wrenching impact on the lives of Inland Northwesterners. Music from the era will provide a big-band backdrop.
“As a regional museum in Eastern Washington, we’re really not equipped to deal with the war in Europe, the war in the Pacific,” said Schoonover. “But what we could deal with and what’s right for us is to take a look at the home front.”
He’s hoping the exhibition will appeal to different ages. “I’ve always seen instigating dialogue as an important role for the museum,” he said. “And I’m intrigued by the thought of two or three generations talking about World War II.”
“Behind the Red, White and Blue” is the brainchild of Spokane graphic designer C.K. Anderson. He discovered the museum’s modest cache of posters while researching an unrelated project. He was immediately impressed by their artistic value. “These posters were the work of truly talented illustrators and artists,” he said.
But their historical and emotional context is what makes them special.
One is dominated by the face of a determined Marine casting a menacing gaze at a map of the Japanese mainland. In huge red letters, it screams “NEXT!”
Anderson divided the posters into three groups: patriotism, conservation and America at risk.
Exhibit organizers have worried that some people might be overdosed on World War II memories by now. But in their more optimistic moments, they’re telling themselves the media attention given the war’send anniversary will only enhance appreciation for this presentation.
Also included in the show are posters borrowed from the Seattle Public Library and Washington State Historical Society.
Running in conjunction with the posters will be “Yes, In My Back Yard,” an exhibition looking at the controversial history and legacy of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
And starting Oct. 18 and essentially continuing through the rest of the year, the Cheney Cowles Wednesday night programs will present speakers whose themes are linked to the World War II exhibitions. On Nov. 1, Connecticut resident Bernard Perlin will be featured. The award-winning creator of two of the posters to be displayed, he worked for the federal Office of War Information and then Life Magazine.
“Behind the Red, White and Blue” runs through Dec. 10.
, DataTimes