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Books > Arts & Architecture > History of art / art & design styles
The horror of the First World War brought out a characteristic
response in a group of English artists, who resorted to black
humour. Among these, John Hassall, a pioneering British illustrator
and creator of the influential 'Skegness is so bracing' poster,
holds a special place. Early in the war, he hit on the idea of
drawing a parody of the Bayeux Tapestry to satirize German
aggression and add to the growing genre of war propaganda. Taking
the scheme of the famous tapestry which celebrates William the
Conqueror's invasion of England, Hassall uses thirty pictorial
panels to tell the story of Kaiser Wilhem II's invasion of
Luxembourg and Belgium. In mock-archaic language he narrates the
progress of the German army, never missing an opportunity to
lampoon 'bad' behaviour: 'Wilhelm giveth orders for frightfulness.'
The caricatured Germans loot homes, make gas from Limburg cheese
and sauerkraut, drink copious amounts of wine and shamefully march
through Luxembourg with 'women and children in front.' With comic
inventiveness Hassall adapts the borders of the original to
illustrate the stereotypical objects with which the English then
associated their enemy: they are decorated with schnitzel,
sausages, pilsner, wine corks and wild boar. Drawn with Hassall's
distinctive flat colour and striking outlines, Ye Berlyn Tapestrie
is a fascinating historical example of war-induced farce, produced
by a highly talented artist who could not then have known that the
war was set to last for another two years. Together with an
introduction which sets out the historical background of its
creation, every page of this rarely seen publication is reproduced
here in a fold-out concertina, just like the original, to resemble
the style of the Bayeux Tapestry.
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