WWI Illustrators of America: How Harry Townsend and F.C. Yohn Helped Win the War
Published: 15 April 2025
via the HamletHub website
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5th Marines on the Last Night of the War Frederick C. Yohn (1875–1933) 1920 (Courtesy Navy Art Collection, Naval History and Heritage Command)
Join nationally renowned author, James Thompson, at the Norwalk Historical Society’s Mill Hill Historic Park on Tuesday, June 27, 2017 at 7:00pm for an introspective look at World War I artists, most specifically Norwalk artists, Harry Townsend and F.C. Yohn.
WWI Illustrators of America: How Harry Townsend and F.C. Yohn Helped Win the War is part of the Norwalk Historical Society’s World War I Centennial Lecture Series. World War I posters on loan from the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, CT and Townsend and Yohn’s art work from the City of Norwalk Collection will be on display. The lecture will take place in the newly restored 1835 Town House at Mill Hill, located at 2 East Wall Street in Norwalk, CT. Follow signs to parking. Admission is $5.00 and tickets can be purchased at here
Generously sponsored in part by DoubleTree by Hilton and the Norwalk Arts Commission.
James Thompson, author of Painting America’s Portrait – How Illustrators Created Their Art and its sequel, Painting America’s Portrait – How Illustrators Created America, will commemorate two of Norwalk’s greatest artists. Harry Townsend and F. C. Yohn, both well-known before WWI, secured lasting fame with works they produced during the Great War.
Townsend was recruited into the American Expeditionary Force to create a pictorial history of “our boys” in the field. Yohn spent the war in his New York studio depicting the hardship and heroism of the men who were “making the world safe for democracy”. Yohn’s images were seen by untold numbers of readers of America’s most popular magazines.
Thompson will explain how Uncle Sam used the art of men like Harry Townsend and F. C. Yohn to win the war, and how the images they created reshaped the way Americans perceived themselves. He will present examples of both man’s work and show how they became stars in the constellation of American Illustration.
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