Preserve Wild Life WPA Poster
Six color screen printed poster by J. Hirt.
18"x24" on 100# Cougar White
We're excited for the newest edition to our WPA mini-series!
Here's a funny story: we've spent the last few years explaining to everyone that our posters are not WPA reprints and are not meant to be replicas or a throw back. The idea for our initial series is a contemporary take on the travel posters for parks. Well, now we've gone and made a reproduction of J. Hirt's beautiful WPA poster (1936). So, is Fifty-Nine Parks a remake of the old WPA posters? Here's the new answer: In addition to our contemporary take on classic travel posters we have also reproduced a handful of our favorite posters from the WPA era.
This print is scaled up to be a standard poster size. All the type was redrawn by hand just as it would have been in the 30's. That means you'll find plenty of beautiful typographic excentricities in this one!
Why Make a Mini-Series of Reproductions?
We love classic travel posters and the work of the WPA. While our main focus is on creating contemporary posters to celebrate parks, we also want to educate folks on printmaking and its history. Especially as it relates to the parks and American history. Despite posters of the WPA being pretty iconic we still meet folks on tour who haven't heard of these posters yet. Or if people do recognize the posters they may not be sure who or what the WPA is. We also wanted to make reproductions that were as faithful as possible to the originals. That means they're all screen printed and feature hand lettering instead of digital typefaces that look close but aren't quite the same.
About The WPA
The Federal Art Project's primary goals were to employ out-of-work artists and to provide art for non-federal municipal buildings and public spaces. Over 10,000 artists were commissioned to produce work for the WPA Federal Art Project. Many of the iconic posters from this project celebrated public lands and National Parks of the US — and that's part of why we love them so much!
Made in USA. Frame Not Included. 5% of purchase donated to The National Park Service.