Enlarge .Théatre de la Guerre Européenne. 1914-1915.
- £sold
- Stock Code: 22545
- HUGUENIN-DUMITTAN, André, Product Archive
- Author: HUGUENIN-DUMITTAN, André (Artist / designer)
- Publisher: Lith Aug G Fiedler, La Chaux-de-Fonds (Printer / Publisher)
- Date: 1915
- Dimensions: Image: 64 x 54.5 cms /Backed on linen: 71.5 x 59.1 cms
Description:
André Huguenin-Dumittan’s comic World War One propaganda map: Europe caricatured through the faces of its leaders
About this piece:
Théatre de la Guerre Européenne. 1914-1915.
Fine example. Backed on linen.
An exceptionally rare comic map of Europe, designed in Paris in early 1915 by the Swiss artist, medallist and sculptor, André Huguenin–Dumittan [1888-1975].
The map may owe its design inspiration to a similar French postcard map by the E Muller, known to have been circulating in Paris at around this time, which also used the heads of the principal European leaders to denote the countries of Europe.
A long-time resident of the Swiss town of La Chaux-de-Fonds, Huguenin lost his father at the age of 10 & was subsequently apprenticed to a local watch-turner. With the death of his mother in 1910, he moved to Paris to study at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts, there mingling with numerous other Swiss emigrés, including writer Léon Bopp & painter Marcel Amiguet.
At the outbreak of war, Huguenin returned to Switzerland but throughout the conflict came back to Paris on numerous occasions, establishing himself as a sculptor there, and running a local gallery (La Boétie) with the support of one of his Swiss relatives. It would appear as if this amusing map was conceived and designed during precisely this early wartime period, though it was evidently printed in Switzerland by local lithographer, Auguste G Fiedler. Huguenin returned permanently to Switzerland in 1917 where he married the daughter of the mayor of La Chaux, Henri-Justin Stauffer. He subsequently established his atelier in the town’s old clock tower. An immensely versatile sculptor & artist, he worked in terracotta, stone and bronze. Many of his sculptures now adorn the parks of his home town. Indeed, following his death in 1975, his family established a Foundation in his name, based at the site of his last atelier. It perpetuates the memory, knowledge & understanding of his work and sustains the vibrant contemporary art market with an annually-awarded prize for new artists.