In 1923, Charles Mather began selling subscriptions to corporations for an annual poster series to motivate and inspire workers. What began as a novel concept to use up excess capacity turned into a very popular series seen in hundreds of factories across the U.S. during the Twenties.
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"Out in Front" is one of the best of the Mather Work Incentive posters. The goal of the series - motivating and educating a new class of American industrial workers - is evident in the poster's celebration of speed and drive. The boat is a Hickman C-Sled motorboat; the spirit is pure Roaring Twenties. The surging motorboats and displaced water, rendered in fields and swirls of flat color, represent a relatively rare influence of European-style Art Deco design on the American poster.