Original Item: Only One Available. This is a fantastic example of a poster sized calendar sample page for January 1944, measuring 27 ¼” x 19 ½”. This was most likely done to not only promote this beautiful poster series but to also encourage US citizen to “Work, Fight and Buy Bonds”. The poster itself was manufactured by the Thos. D. Murphy Co. Factory and Power Plant. The Thos. D. Murphy Calendar Company, is located in Red Oak, Iowa, United States. Thomas D. Murphy was the first person who successfully developed advertising art calendars, and is the individual who is most responsible for the creation, development and expansion of the art calendar industry.

The calendar features a beautiful image of US Marines storming a tropical beachhead. The Marines dismounted from their amphibious tracked vehicle with their weapons at the ready. The artwork used was a painting done by renowned illustrator Emmett Watson. Emmett St. Clair Watson, Jr. was an American illustrator whose works appeared in popular magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Judge, Collier's, and Life, and also in pulp magazines such as Argosy, Railroad Stories, and Detective Fiction Weekly.

Emmett St. Clair Watson, Jr. was born in 1893 in Richmond, Virginia to Emmett St. Clair Watson, Sr. and Julia Butler Winn, and spent his early childhood in the Church Hill section of the city. He attended John Marshall High School and worked as an illustrator for Metropolitan Engraving. In 1916, Watson moved to New York City, where he attended classes at the Art Students League and the Grand Central School of Art.

A lovely example ready for further research and display.