The Great Crippler - Syphilis

Poster warning of the dangers to children from syphilis, showing a young girl standing with a crutch.

This poster touches on a few taboos: sexual promiscuity and disability. Like much of media during the interwar period, this poster paints disability as not only a hinderance on life but a daunting, shameful condition (welcomecollection.org).

The poster shows an illustration of a young girl using a crutch standing behind the text The Great Crippler Syphilis. Syphilis is the focal point of the poster, colored in a bold, red typeface. The girls shadow looms behind her larger than her and more striking than her due to it's bright red color. It's possible this symbolizes the shame that looms over her or her family. 

The art style uses elements of modernism and plakatstil, with its use of geometry and flat shapes. The grey box behind syphilis draws attention to the sans serif font it sit behind. The girl herself is made up of cell shading using only three values: midtones, shadows, and the paper color. There isn't a background as the viewer only needs to know that this girl is disabled because of syphilis, most likely her parents' contraction of the disease.