Nos Usines
Artist
M. Héringfeld
Date1918
MediumStone Lithograph
Dimensions21 1/2 x 14 in. (54.6 x 35.6 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LinePoster House Permanent Collection
Object numberPH.7058
DescriptionSince coal came from areas adjacent to the battlefields in the north, it became incredibly difficult to obtain in Paris and beyond. During the harsh winters of 1916 and 1917, children were often tasked with scrounging for firewood to heat their families’ homes, sometimes stealing wood from buildings so that they would not freeze. Coal was also used to fuel the furnaces that smelted steel, a key component in the manufacture of tanks, weapons, armor, and other military products. For every one hundred rifles that had been made in France at the beginning of the war in 1914, 29,000 were being made there by 1918—a staggering increase in production that required unprecedented quantities of raw material. Here, the artist directs “All steel and coal for our factories.” This could be read as both a demand for a reduction in the use of coal for heating and cooking and for the donation of metal objects like cutlery, bicycles, and fences that could be melted down and used for military purposes.On View
Not on view