Emprunt National/Banque L. Dupont & Cie
Artist
Lucien Jonas
France, 1880 - 1947
Printer
Imp. Devambez, Paris.
France
Date1920
Dimensions47 1/2 x 30 1/4 in. (120.7 x 76.8 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LineGift of Peter A. Blatz
Object numberPH.229
DescriptionIn one of his many posters for French war loans, artist Lucien Jonas promotes l’Emprunt national (National Loan or Reconstruction Loan) of 1920, encouraging French civilians to contribute to the funding of the reconstruction of France’s land and economy, decimated by four years of war. Two men on scaffolding high above the city of Strasbourg attach a Tricolore to a finial of Strasbourg Cathedral while a third man repairs the finial with a hammer and chisel. Strasbourg is in Alsace-Lorraine, a strategic region in eastern France on the border of Germany that became an important symbol in both French and Allied propaganda during the both world wars. Alsace-Lorraine had been annexed by the German Empire in 1871 after its victory over France in the Franco-Prussian War. The installation of the French flag on Strasbourg cathedral in this poster celebrates the restoration of Alsace-Lorraine to France after the Armistice in 1918.On View
Not on view
