See more objects with the tag military, propaganda, photomontage, battleships, World War II, patiotism.

Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1941

  • Work on this object began.

2016

2024

  • You found it!

Poster, Keep 'Em Rolling!

This is a Poster. It was published by U.S. Government Printing Office and printed by U.S. Government Printing Office. It is dated 1941. Its medium is offset lithograph on paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

The phrases “Keep ‘Em Shooting,” “Keep ‘Em Rolling,” and “Keep ‘Em Coming” were used as American military-sponsored propaganda slogans during World War II. This series of posters was commissioned by the United States Government’s Division of Information, Office of Emergency Management in 1941, ahead of America’s official involvement in World War II. They were designed by Leo Lionni shortly after he moved to the United States. In each of the four posters in the series, boats, tanks and other armament move across the stripes of the American flag. Each design juxtaposes working men set into the flag’s star-field alongside the military machines they produced. This poster series exemplifies Lionni’s expert ability combining photographic image with modernist, asymmetrical layouts. Combing patriotic symbols of inexhaustible production and military strength, these posters appealed to the war effort both at home and abroad. The intention was to show that both the welder and the front-line tank played their part in defeating the enemy. Stylistically, these posters follow in the early twentieth-century tradition of avant-garde European graphic design. The strategic use of typography, geometric layouts, primary colors, cropped forms, photomontage and fractured space draw from the lineage of Cubism, Constructivism, Bauhaus modernism, and Italian Futurism.

This object was donated by George R. Kravis II. It is credited Gift of George R. Kravis II.

  • Poster, West Point
  • 81.3 × 63.5 cm (32 × 25 in.).
  • Gift of Louise Clémencon.
  • 1949-108-9
This object has not been digitized yet.

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Its dimensions are

101 × 75.6 cm (39 3/4 × 29 3/4 in.)

Cite this object as

Poster, Keep 'Em Rolling!; Published by U.S. Government Printing Office; offset lithograph on paper; 101 × 75.6 cm (39 3/4 × 29 3/4 in.); Gift of George R. Kravis II; 2018-22-119

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Energizing the Everyday: Gifts From the George R. Kravis II Collection.

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/420557003/ |title=Poster, Keep 'Em Rolling! |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=25 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>