Voenny! Zaem - Vpered za Rodinu! [War Loan: Forward for the Motherland]

First World War Russian War bonds campaign poster. Depicts a Russian medieval knight carrying the Romanov coat of arms to war. The date of the work suggests that this is one of the final posters produced under Tsarist Russia to raise funds, as Tsar Nicholas II abdicated in March 1917. Visually this works presents a turning point in Russian poster design - in line with political developments and the fall of Imperial Russia, nationalistic Tsarist symbols were soon after discarded in favour of presenting the work force at home or military activities. The design of this poster was also appropriated to solict funds in the United States in early 1917 for a volunteer American Ambulance company in Russia.