THE ARTS: Greatest of His Time

Two worlds of art coexist side by side, each with its own standards, its own heroes. Measured by the canons of high art, James Montgomery Flagg was a mere illustrator. He refused even to call him self an "artist/' But measured by his impact on the senses and sensibilities of his contemporaries—a valid standard of popular art, however irrelevant to high art—Illustrator Flagg was the greatest U.S. artist of his time. When he died in Manhattan last week at 82. his niche in U.S. cultural history was secure.

Flagg's best-known work of all was a World War I recruiting poster—perhaps...