James Montgomery Flagg, born in Pelham Manor, New York in 1877, is one of those interesting figures in history who actually did so much, but is only remembered for one thing! Flagg was a gifted artist, displaying a prodigy’s talent; he created his first magazine illustration at age 12, and by the age of 14, he had become a regular contributor to Life. He actively pursued training for his talents – although he later claimed that he learned far more from the work of other artists – studying at the Art Students League in New York and taking the requisite time to travel abroad, studying art in Paris and London.

An autographed photo of James Montgomery Flagg at work. (p4A item # C240992)

Upon returning to the United States, he became a prolific illustrator, preferring to work in pen-and-ink sketches and supplying work for everything from books to political cartoons to advertisements. In the early 1900s, he illustrated a number of books, including Yankee Girls Abroad, An Orchard Princess, and Simon The Jester. His career as an illustrator in the heyday of magazines led to illustrations in a number of prominent publications including Ladies Home Journal, Cosmopolitan, and Saturday Evening Post.

An James Montgomery Flagg advertisement for Cream of Wheat. (p4A item # D9852046)

He was a founding member of the Dutch Treat Club, a social club of illustrators, writers and actors. (Legend has it that the club formed organically in 1906 in the waiting rooms of Life offices, where artists waited each Tuesday morning to have their submissions reviewed.) Flagg was also a member of the Artists and Writers Club, writing and acting in silent films, a talent that led to his work on promotional films for the Marines and the Red Cross.

It was through this association that James Montgomery Flagg came to create his best-known work: the 1917 World War I Uncle Sam poster. This poster, similar to a pose adopted by Lord Kitchener in a British recruitment poster, was one of 46 he created for the war effort, and it’s estimated that 4 million of the Uncle Sam posters were printed. Flagg later said that to avoid the scheduling of a model, he created a self-portrait that he simply aged with the addition of wrinkles and the white beard.

The classic “Uncle Sam Wants You” World War I poster by James Montgomery Flagg. (p4A item # B157825 )

Hollie Davis, p4A Senior Editor, with additional research provided by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Montgomery_Flagg and the National Museum of American Illustration’s site http://www.americanillustration.org/html/jmf/bio.html

The origins of the word ‘tumbaga’ are obscure and complex, but the general consensus seems to indicate the word is a Malay word that means ‘copper, brass.’ This is a little misleading, because tumbaga is actually a mixture of copper and gold. (Cesium is the only other ‘colored’ metallic element – all other metallic elements are achromatic, greys and whites.) Today, the word is typically used to describe materials from pre-Columbian Central and South America.

Tumbaga is harder than copper, and like gold, it can be manipulated in a variety of methods – cast, hammered, engraved, etc. The mixture of the alloy varies, with some as high as 97% gold while others are as much as 97% copper. Some samples have traces of up to 18% of silver, other metals or impurities. It is believed that tumbaga objects were finished with a method of ‘depletion gilding,’ likely being burned to oxidize the copper present on the surface and then treated with an acid wash to remove the oxidation, leaving a shiny surface that appeared to be pure gold.

A tumbaga ornament from the Tairona culture. (p4A item # D9925866)

In fact, some scholars have speculated that the use of tumbaga led to the legendary accounts of the South American cities of gold carried back to Europe by early explorers in the region, while others believe that tumbaga may have been orichalcum, the metal referred to in a number of ancient texts, including those with accounts of the fabled lost city of Atlantis.

Sadly, the depletion gilding process typically creates microscopic pitting on the surface of tumbaga objects, contributed to their eventual deterioration, as this pitting leaves the surface vulnerable to further oxidation. A terrific discovery was made in 1992 when a shipwreck was discovered in the Bahamas. Tumbaga objects plundered by the Spanish were typically melted down for transport, and then the tumbaga bars themselves were melted and separated back into their basic elements (gold, copper and silver) when they reach Europe. As a result, the 200 bars of tumbaga recovered from the shipwreck are believed to be the only bars in existence.

Information from www.absoluteastronomy.com and www.wikipedia.org.

The precursor of the modern-day slip, petticoats were a woman’s flaring skirt-like garment, often ankle length and fastened at the waist with draw strings, worn with a gown or jacket for added warmth or to make the outer skirt fuller. Wool, cotton and linen were fabrics for daily use, with silk damask often used with the finest gowns. In earlier periods dresses and gowns were open-fronted robes with petticoats designed to fill the resulting gap. Originally they were not considered to be undergarments in the sense that a slip is today, and thus they were frequently decorated with embroidery and/or elaborate quilting of colorful fabrics.

A two-piece, open front, sack-back silk brocade robe a la Francaise.	Rose silk two-piece sack-back open robe, consisting of a dress and petticoat.

Reference note by p4A editorial staff, 02.2010.

Gueridon has unclear origins, but the French word has come to mean something similar to “decorative candlestand.” When the word originally came into use, it tended to refer to a small table with a circular top and the distinctive feature of a central figural support. The figures were usually Moorish or Indian. The form evolved and gueridon continued to be applied to three-legged tables with figural-carved legs, and during the Louis XV and Louis XVI periods, a gueridon became what we know it as today – a small, movable table of Continental origins, often used as a lamp or candle stand.

An Empire-style mahogany gueridon. (p4a item # D9858661)