Lest we perish (1918)

Dated 1918, "Lest we perish" is an artwork by Ethel Franklin Betts. The catalogue places it in Vintage Posters. The format is portrait. Background on Vintage Posters: Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and later modernist design each left a recognisable poster style. Posters announced theatre, travel, products, and events, combining image and lettering to be read at a glance from the street. Context for 1918: Dada and Surrealism followed the First World War, the Bauhaus school was founded in 1919, and Art Deco became the fashionable decorative style of the 1920s and 1930s. The first decades of the twentieth century were a period of rapid experiment, with Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, and the first abstract painting appearing within a few years of each other.

On onlly.art "Lest we perish" is sold as a digital download (Digital JPEG + PDF files, 300 DPI). The files are delivered by email after payment, so nothing is shipped: you print locally, choosing the paper, size, and frame yourself. A portrait format suits narrow wall spaces, hallways, and the area beside a door or window. Before printing, compare the proportions of the file with your frame so that nothing important is cropped. Screens and printers render colour differently, so a small test print is a sensible way to check tones before committing to a large size. Hang the print away from direct sunlight, which over the years can fade any printed colour. Choosing a standard frame size and printing to fit it often saves the cost of custom framing.

American, 1877–1959

If you like the visual language of Ethel Franklin Betts, explore more works by the same artist in our collection.