We Can Do It!
J. Howard Miller produced the poster in 1943 for Westinghouse Electric. The poster was used to boost female worker morale during World War II. It was rediscovered in the early 1980s and widely reproduced in many forms. The image made the cover of the Smithsonian magazine in 1994 and was fashioned into a US first-class mail stamp in 1999. It is one of the ten most-requested images at the National Archives and Records Administration.
About We Can Do It! in brief
J. Howard Miller produced the poster in 1943 for Westinghouse Electric. The poster was used to boost female worker morale during World War II. It was rediscovered in the early 1980s and widely reproduced in many forms. The image made the cover of the Smithsonian magazine in 1994 and was fashioned into a US first-class mail stamp in 1999. In 2015, the woman in the wartime photograph was identified as then 20-year-old Naomi Parker, working in early 1942 before Doyle had graduated from high school. It is one of the ten most-requested images at the National Archives and Records Administration. People have seized upon the uplifting attitude and apparent message to remake the image into many different forms, including self empowerment, campaign promotion, advertising, and parodies. It has also been incorporated in 2008 into campaign materials for several American politicians, and was reworked by an artist in 2010 to celebrate the first woman becoming prime minister of Australia. Aside from the iconic poster, Miller remains largely unknown. Little has been written about Miller’s life, and the year of his birth and death are uncertain. He studied at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, graduating in 1939. He lived in Pittsburgh during the war. His life span has been published as \”ca. 1915 – ca. 1990\”, 1915 – 1990\”, and \”1918–2004\”, and “1918-2004’s”. In 1942, Miller was hired to create a series of posters to display to the company’s workers.
The intent of the poster project was to reduce absentee workers’ questions, and to lower the likelihood of a factory strike. Each of the more than 42 posters was designed by Miller by Miller for two weeks, then replaced by the next one in the series. Most of the posters featured men; they emphasized traditional roles for men and women and emphasized a smiling male manager with the words \”Any Questions About Your Work?… Ask your Supervisor!\” One of the most popular posters was the 17-by-22-inch ‘We Can Do It!’ poster, which read, “Together We Can Do it!” and ‘Keep ‘Em Firing! ’ The poster read, “No more than 1,800 copies of this poster were printed in East East East.” It was not initially seen beyond several factories and was not seen beyond the Westing house factory. During the war the image was displayed only during February 1943, and it was not for recruitment but to exhort already-hired women to work harder. In the 1980s, the image became used to promote feminism and other political issues beginning in the 80s and 1990s. The artist is unknown, and his life span is uncertain, but his work is believed to have been between 1915 and 1990. His work came to the attention of the Westedhouse Company in Pittsburgh, and he was hired for the series of poster.
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This page is based on the article We Can Do It! published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 11, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
