Flagg, James Montgomery

James Montgomery Flagg, (born June 18, 1877, Pelham Manor, N.Y., U.S.—died May 27, 1960, New York, N.Y.), American illustrator, poster artist, and portrait painter known for his illustrations of buxom girls and particularly for his World War I recruiting poster of a pointing Uncle Sam with the caption “I Want You” (see Uncle Sam). The poster was reissued during World War II.

At the age of 12, Flagg sold his first drawing to the children’s magazine St. Nicholas; after 1892 he was a regular contributor to other popular periodicals, and his illustrations were collected into books. His dashing line and sure draftsmanship were evident in his portraits in oil and watercolour, the only “serious” art he practiced. Flagg was known to the public mainly through his commercial art. In his autobiography, Roses and Buckshot (1946), Flagg represented himself as a bohemian, unfettered by convention.