JAMES MONTGOMERY FLAGG

James Montgomery Flagg was a legendary American artist and illustrator from the 1890s to 1960. He worked in media ranging from fine art painting to cartooning, but he is surely best remembered for his famous Uncle Sam ("I Want You") recruitment poster which was first used in World War I (WWI), and is one of the most iconic images ever created, recognized the world over. Like Norman Rockwell, another legendary illustrator, he began incredibly early! In 1889, when he was 12 years old, he had some of his work accepted by national magazines, and two years later, he was a contributing artist for Life magazine, and the following year, he was published in Judge, and his work in Judge included a comic strip that was published from 1903 to 1907, called "Nervy Nat". He drew the "I Want You" poster in 1917, and over 4 million copies of the poster were printed during World War I alone. He used his own face as inspiration for Uncle Sam (adding age and the goatee). At his peak, he was the highest paid magazine illustrator in America. He painted and drew many portraits of famous celebrities. He passed away in 1960 at the age of 82.