page_title: Jes Wilhelm Schlaikjer
section_title: Art career
hierarchical_section_title: Jes Wilhelm Schlaikjer / Art career
caption_attribution_description: "In The Face Of Obstacles - Courage" US World War II propaganda poster for the US Infantry. Information here.
context_page_description: Jes Wilhelm Schlaikjer was an American artist, most known for his recruitment and war bonds posters during World War II.
context_section_description: Schlaikjer's illustrations appeared in various magazines, including Scribner's, Collier's, American Legion Monthly, Redbook, Woman's Home Companion, and Cosmopolitan.
  He often painted covers for pulp magazines such as Black Mask, Adventure, Everybody's Magazine, Frontier Stories, and West. Schlaikjer's signature on these covers were always scribbled in a splat that contained his initials and the date. This may have been an intentional cover-up to disguise his work without "jeopardizing" his career with the more "slick" magazines.
  In 1926, Schlaikjer earned the first Hallgarten prize at the National Academy of Design Annual Exhibition. He received this award for a portrait of his wife titled "The Pink Cameo."
  On November 21, 1928, he won the $1000 first prize from the National Academy of Design. This same year he was the winner of the first Altman prize for the best figure painting by an American-born citizen for South Dakota Evening.
  In 1932, Schlaikjer was again awarded the Hallgarten prize for his painting titled "The Little Ones."
  In October 1930, Schlaikjer opened an art studio near the Art Students League.
  In 1932, he began teaching at the National Academy of Design. He was also made an honorary member of the school.
  Along with other conservative artists, Cromwell and Schlaikjer founded the Advance American Art Commission. This was done in response to the controversy surrounding Diego Rivera's mural at Rockefeller Center. Their purpose was to cope with the "existing foreign evils and abuses threatening American Art."
  In 1942, he was chosen as the War Department artist during World War II. Schlaikjer painted posters for recruitment, war bonds, the Red Cross, the infantry, Signal Corps, Military Police, Army Air Force, Marines, Navy, and Women's Army Corps.  He was also the portraitist for military leaders, including Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, and George S. Patton. At the time, he had a studio in The Pentagon. These portraits now hang in the War College in Washington in Washington D.C.
  After the war, Schlaikjer set up a portrait studio in Washington D.C.
  In 1947, he taught at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts.
  In 1948, Schlaikjer's membership in the National Academy of Design was elevated from associate member to full membership.
  Schlaikjer had work exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.
  His historical portrait of Abraham Lincoln working on the Emancipation Proclamation remains one of the few paintings depicting Lincoln managing this task at the Soldier's Home.
  He was a member of the National Academy of Design, the Grand Central Art Gallery, the Artists Guild, the American Legion, the Armor and Arms Club, the First Division Society, and the Salamagundi Club.
caption: In the Face of Obstacles-Courage, US WWII propaganda poster
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