L'Aurore
Artist
Henri Royer
France, 1869 - 1938
Printer
Imp. Lapina, Paris
France
Date1918
Dimensions30 1/2 x 22 1/2 in. (77.5 x 57.2 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LineGift of Peter A. Blatz
Object numberPH.71
DescriptionThis World War I poster from 1918 titled L’ Aube (Dawn) lists some of the bloodiest battles of World War I at the top but suggests that a brighter future now dawns for France. The message is reinforced by the golden glow behind the three figures: a French infantryman holding the French flag and the two women in traditional costumes. The woman in the middle with the large knot cap represents Alsace while the one on the left, who raises the edge of the flag to her lips, is defined by her white cap and dress as coming from Lorraine. Alsace-Lorraine in northeastern France had been annexed by Germany in 1871 after the Franco-Prussian War but it was returned to France at the end of World War I. Henri Royer, who designed the poster was, in fact, from Nancy, formerly in the province of Lorraine, and his father was the founder of the town’s most important lithographic printing firm. Royer trained in Nancy before moving on to the École des Beaux Arts in Paris and he later became a regular exhibitor of refined genre paintings, portraits, and landscapes at the Paris Salon. On View
Not on view
