William Steig encourages patriotic Americans to collect scrap metal for the war effort with his wartime poster Get in the Scrap! The color poster, which plays on dual meanings of the word scrap, relates thematically to Steig's popular Small Fry cartoons. In some of these, called "Dreams of Glory," young children imagine themselves performing impossibly heroic wartime deeds. The Japanese soldier shown here is depicted as an ugly racial caricature, a practice which is not at all uncommon in this time period. The poster will be offered at auction on March 1 at Swann Galleries in New York.
![]()
![]()
Note: Have you ever seen this poster before? I have not. Imagine how much other forgotten art by William Steig is out there just waiting to be discovered! This is why I ask readers who have access to original art or scarce published works to send me scans and photographs to publicize on this blog. What's in your cartoon library?
 |
| William Steig Get in the Scrap! Rubber and Metal Collection Depot poster, c. 1942 |
 |
| William Steig Swann Galleries, March 1, 2018, Sale 2467, Lot 94 |
Note: Have you ever seen this poster before? I have not. Imagine how much other forgotten art by William Steig is out there just waiting to be discovered! This is why I ask readers who have access to original art or scarce published works to send me scans and photographs to publicize on this blog. What's in your cartoon library?
02452