July 2, 2011 ~ As Steven Heller writes, in a most interesting article on Paolo Garretto, "there was hardly a noteworthy American magazine that had not published Paolo Garretto's work at one time. There were virtually no French, Italian, English, and German poster hoardings or kiosks on which his advertisements did not regularly appear. His airbrushed caricature epitomized Deco styling. During the Twenties and Thirties he was a master of international advertising design and editorial art."

Born in Naples in 1903, Garretto became a Fascist sympathizer early in his life. When Italy attacked France in 1940, however, he fled to the United States and continued to work for Conde Nast publications. His past soon caught up with him. As the New York Times wrote in his obituary on August 9, 1969, "when World War II broke out, Mr. Garretto, an Italian citizen living in the United States, was interned as an enemy alien and deported to Italy. He was approached by the Nazis to produce caricatures of President Roosevelt and other Allied leaders. When he refused, he was interned as a political prisoner in Hungary from 1942 until the end of the war."

"Despondent Sam"

"The July 1933 issue of Vanity Fair featured artist Paolo Garretto's rendition of Uncle Sam in the shape of an Independence Day numeral "4." Garretto portrays a despondent Sam, head in hands, seated in the western hemisphere, with storm clouds above. Although a number of FDR's New Deal programs had been launched, domestically there was little to cheer about, as the economy was dismal. Overseas, the picture was also dire, with the U.S. set apart from its European allies over international monetary policy." From The Pop History Dig

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