Keep a Guard on What You Say
Poster
1941 (made)
1941 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Abram Games designed many British wartime propaganda posters over the course of his military service, including some 100 posters for the Army alone. The designer was Jewish and felt deeply for the victims of atrocities at the hands of Axis forces. This poster promotes wartime vigilance and discretion though the clever pairing of the colloquial phrase "keep a guard on what you say", and Games' visual pun of a man whose mouth is guarded by a sentry.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Keep a Guard on What You Say (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Colour lithograph |
| Brief description | "Keep a guard on what you say" by A. Games, World War II propaganda poster warning against careless talk, Britain, 1941 |
| Physical description | World War II propaganda poster, warning against careless talk. Stylised soldier's face with his mouth represented by another soldier, depicted as a white silhouette standing at ease and holding a gun, and standing in a guard-house with red interior and a black outline. The larger soldier's face is coloured blue and purple, with green cap and collar, and is set against a black background. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Credit line | Gift of the American Friends of the V&A; Gift to the American Friends by Leslie, Judith and Gabri Schreyer and Alice Schreyer Batko |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | Abram Games designed many British wartime propaganda posters over the course of his military service, including some 100 posters for the Army alone. The designer was Jewish and felt deeply for the victims of atrocities at the hands of Axis forces. This poster promotes wartime vigilance and discretion though the clever pairing of the colloquial phrase "keep a guard on what you say", and Games' visual pun of a man whose mouth is guarded by a sentry. |
| Associated object | CIRC.293-1971 (Duplicate) |
| Other number | LS.2055 - Leslie Schreyer Loan Number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.883-2004 |
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| Record created | August 17, 2005 |
| Record URL |
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