Well the Missus and I trundled over to the Museum of Fine Arts the other day to catch a gallery talk about Over There! Posters from World War I and, say, it was swell.

Curator Patrick Murphy took us on a lively tour of the exhibit, described this way on the MFA’s website:

Timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of WWI, this exhibition features fifty wartime posters from the United States and Europe—including select examples from Britain, France, Germany, and Russia. Many of the works were used to encourage enlistment in the US Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Service, while others appeal to the American citizenry to buy war bonds, conserve food, support the Red Cross and other relief agencies, and maintain a strong work ethic on the home front. This exhibition is the first time since 1938 that many of these works will be on view, and marks the MFA’s first display of the newly acquired poster I Want You for U. S. Army (1917) by James Montgomery Flagg.

Said poster:

Its British antecedent:

All the posters, outside of the newly acquired I Want You for U.S. Army, were donated to the MFA in 1937 by John T. Spaulding. From an MFA press release:

Works on view in the exhibition are drawn primarily from the collection of John T. Spaulding, which was given to the Museum in 1937. Spaulding, along with his brother, was also responsible for much of the Museum’s world-famous collection of Japanese prints.

But that’s not all.

Later this fall, Over There! Posters from World War I will coincide with the exhibition, Over Here: World War I Posters from Around the World at The Boston Athenæum (September 10, 2014–January 31, 2015), which includes over 50 posters from 10 countries.

Overjoyed to hear it.