“This large sheet by Adolf Triedler (and modeled by his wife) is among my favorites. Artists frequently employed images of women in propaganda posters to stir sympathy or patriotism. Women were often depicted as helpless victims, coy sex symbols, or maternal figures, yet here, Treidler presents a woman as a dignified worker, free from the condescension evident in many images of women’s work. This poster was sponsored by the United War Work Campaign—an umbrella organization of seven associations including the Salvation Army, the YMCA, and the YWCA—that collectively raised more than $170 million for the war in 1918.”⠀
—Mary Weaver Chapin, Curator of Prints and Drawings / Portland Art Museum
Description: For Every Fighter a Woman Worker. Care for Her Through the YWCA, Adopf Triedler, color lithograph on smooth cream wove paper, sheet: 41 x 30 inches. A portrait-oriented work showing a woman dressed in brown overalls holding a miniature, gray bi-plane in her right hand and a miniature gray missile in her left. Her figure takes up most of the print. She stands with her hands raised to shoulder height, holding an object in each, while looking directly ahead towards the viewer. She has pale peach-colored skin, short brown hair under a brown beret and large eyes. She wears a white open collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up past her elbows. Her brown overalls have pockets and voluminous legs that gather at midcalf. She wears white socks or hose with white laced up shoes. She stands in front of a large inverted blue triangle shape with its center missing. At bottom left, red lettering reads “For Every Fighter a Woman Worker”. Just below this in small gray letters the words “United War Work Campaign” are stacked one on top of another. At lower left the words “Care for Her” in gray lettering sits atop gray lettering reading “through The YWCA”. The artist’s name appears to the left of the figure near her foreshortened shadow.]
Adolf Treidler (American, 1886–1981), “For Every Fighter a Woman Worker. Care for Her Through the YWCA,” 1918. Color lithograph on smooth cream wove paper. Gift of Mr. William Lewis Brewster, Jr., 20.59.71⠀