Halt the Hun!

Depicts United States infantry soldier preventing a German from killing a woman and her child. The U.S. soldier's left hand is resting on a rifle that is pointing down to the ground. His right arm is placed across the neck of the German, who is looming over the vulnerable figures. The woman, squatting on the ground, is looking up the soldiers. One arm is curled protectively around her naked child. Small touches of pink highlight the skin on the figures, who are otherwise drawn monochromatically. They are placed against a yellow and orange hued background. Flames rise from the ground behind them. The title, 'Halt the Hun', runs across the top of the poster, and is printed in orange ink. Henry Patrick Raleigh (1880-1944), born into a destitute family, began working at age 9 to support his mother and sisters. By the age of 12, he found work on the docks of San Francisco, processing shipments of coffee beans. At age 17, his knack for drawing landed him a job as a newspaper artist for the 'San Francisco Bulletin' where he was assigned to some of the most seamy and gruesome aspects of the city, including executions, fires and fatal accidents. His work soon attracted the attention of art directors and publishers who offered him better assignments. He moved to New York where he moved from working in newspapers to magazines such as 'Vanity Fair', 'Harper's Bazaar', 'Colliers' and 'Saturday Evening Post'. During the First World War Raleigh’s “Hunger Poster” was selected by the government for a distribution of 5 million copies. He subsequently illustrated four additional abstract and emotionally charged war posters. By the 1940s he was bankrupt and died in 1944.