Peace!
Year: 1916
Description: "Peace! Of course, my old Zimmerwald but you are no more anxious than we, are you not?"
Zimmerwald refers to a socialist summit which was held in 1915 in Switzerland. The assembly included participants from throughout Europe including those from both sides of the belligerent divide. Unable to agree on much, the assembly passed a resolution which expressed sympathy for the victims of war.
With this illustration, Hermann-Paul places some distance between his 1917 self and his pre-war past. The socialist sentiment is nice but hardly meaningful to the men in the trenches. Sure they want peace but it appears they also want victory.
Provenance: Private Publication
- La Baïonnette (1916)
Calendrier de la Guerre
Year: 1916
Description: Cover for the first folio of Hermann-Paul's Calendrier de la Guerre. This set includes twelve colored woodcuts each representing a month of the Great War from it's beginning in August 1914 until July 1915. In the first folio, each month is represented by a place, a battle or an event such as mobilization. The second folio depicts leaders and personalities.
This particular copy was signed by the artist and presented to Gustave Herve, a left wing critic of the army before the war who, like Hermann-Paul, became an advocate for the French army when it was all that stood between them and German imperialism.
Provenance: Librarie Lutetia [A. Ciavarri, Directeur]
Calendrier de la Guerre: August 1914
Year: 1916
Description: Two soldiers from different units embrace on a railway platform. This is probably a chance encounter between friends at a congested station as their units prepare to disembark for the front. The man in blue is decorated in flowers, momentos from women who've bid him adieu. The opening salvos were chaotic and deadly and the first months of the war were by far the most bloody. These men will probably never meet again.
Provenance: Librarie Lutetia [A. Ciavarri, Directeur]
Calendrier de la Guerre: September 1914
Year: 1916
Description: After a month of fighting, the German army was at the suburbs of Paris. When turning to meet the French army to its right, the Germans opened a gap between their First and Second Armies. The BEF and the French Fifth Army poured through the gap and drove a wedge between the Germans. Meanwhile French reserves were ferried onto the battlefield in a convoy of Parisian taxis to hold the line which granted the Fifth army time to break through.
In this scene, a victorious French soldier comforts a Parisian woman as a German soldier lies bleeding at their feet. The Germans retreated at the Marne and dug in on higher ground. The Western front would remain more or less fixed for the next four years.
Provenance: Librarie Lutetia (A. Ciavarri, Directeur)
Calendrier de la Guerre: October 1914
Year: 1916
Description: The German army was in retreat after the Battle of the Marne but their capacity for destruction was not diminished. After the evacuation of Reims, the Germans covered their retreat with a hellish barrage from their big guns. The northeastern suburbs were destroyed. Airplanes wreaked havoc with bombs from above. A ghastly odor permeated the scene as the bodies of dead soldiers were incinerated.
Provenance: Librarie Lutetia (A. Ciavarri, Directeur)
Calendrier de la Guerre: November 1914
Year: 1916
Description: A woman hoists a child to be kissed by a soldier in an armored vehicle. She is in flight and he's headed to the front. The landscape is flattened and the river has crested. The First Battle of Ypres was characterized by mud, blood and shells.
The town visible on the other side of the flooded river is probably Langemarck, which fell into German hands in November 1914. Otto Dix captured its destruction from the German perspection in his post-war retrospective Der Krieg. Otto Dix: Langemarck
Provenance: Librarie Lutetia (A. Ciavarri, Directeur)
Calendrier de la Guerre: December 1914
Year: 1916
Description: A Scottish soldier embraces his woman on the quayside. A military transport ship floats in the background; a Scotty dog sits dutifully by her feet. Due to the kilts they wore in the First World War, the Germans referred to them as the "ladies from hell."
The men who departed in late 1914 were thrown into the trenches in an effort to bolster units whose ranks were depleted by the opening campaign but the worst was yet to come. These men would see significant action at the Somme, Ypres, Amiens and Arras. A total of 147,609 Scottish soldiers lost their lives in the war.
Provenance: Librarie Lutetia (A. Ciavarri, Directeur)
Calendrier de la Guerre: January 1915
Year: 1916
Description: Nineteen-fourteen was characterized by rapid troop movement. The Germans invaded France through neutral Belgium and converged on Paris. They were stopped in the suburbs by a gallant French defense on the Marne. After that defeat, the Germans were on the move again. This time in retreat.
By winter, German troops were able to consolidate a line of defense. They dug in to hold the position. The Allies dug in across from them and the stalemate on the Western front began. For three long years, both sides threw mass amounts of men and metal at the other in an effort to break through. When the war ended, the positions established in the winter of 1914-1915 remained more or less the same.
Here a soldier bundles himself with blankets to remain warm in the trench. In the foreground a grave is marked with a cross. Those types of markers would grow increasingly more prevalent...
Provenance: Librarie Lutetia (A. Ciavarri, Directeur)
Calendrier de la Guerre: February 1915
Year: 1916
Description: Unable to break through the German line, the Allied strategy turned to starvation. By leveraging the power of the Royal Navy, the Allies established a blockade of Germany. The goal was to deprive the enemy of food and material. The German High Seas Fleet made just one unsuccessful attempt to break through.
Unable to defeat the Royal Navy with ships, Germany turned to submarines to cut supply lines between North America and Britain. These underwater vessels attacked with little warning and sunk many merchant vessels. After sinking the RMS Lusitania and killing many civilians in 1915, Germany attempted to quell international outrage with promises to end attacks on passenger liners.
Provenance: Librarie Lutetia (A. Ciavarri, Directeur)
Calendrier de la Guerre: March 1915
Year: 1916
Description: The Dardenlles are a strategic waterway which connect the Mediterranean to the Black Sea. The Northern sea route to Russia was blocked by ice in Winter. If the Allies controlled the strait, they had sea access to their ally for twelve continuous months.
The strait was controlled by Turkish forts and the passage was mined to prevent ships from assaulting the passage. After the Royal Navy tried unsuccessfully to destroy the forts from the sea, the Allies launched a land assault in the spring of 1915.
As this print illustrates, the terrain was rugged and the assault force faced difficult challenges. After many unsuccessful attempts to assault the cliffs of Gallipoli, the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force was withdrawn from the pennisula. The idyllic view in this print masks the campaign's bloodiness. Over ten months of fighting the Allies lost 200,000 casualties.
Provenance: Librarie Lutetia (A. Ciavarri, Directeur)
