Sale 2453 - Vintage Posters, August 2, 2017

DESIGNER UNKNOWN 192 ● [WATCH THE WESTERN EUROPE WAR ZONE.] 1918. 40x29 1 / 2 inches, 101 1 / 2 x75 cm. Condition B+: darkening, restoration and minor losses along sharp vertical and horizontal folds. A SCARCE and unusual Chinese poster from the final months of the First World War, commenting on the results of the Second Battle of the Marne and ultimately the breaking of the Hindenburg Line. In newsreel-like fashion, the poster reports: “From July 15 to August 31 of this year, the Allied Forces have captured 230,000 German soldiers. More than 4,000 artillery, more than 1,700 men in the trenches, and more than 13,700 infantrymen.” It goes on to say, “The Allied Forces are continuing to gain ground, while Hindenburg’s front line has been broken at many points,” and concludes that “Hindenburg has stepped on a nail [an idiomatic expression meaning he has run into an obstacle.]” On August 14th 1917, China officially joined World War I and declared war on Germany. One of China’s primary reasons for entering the war was to regain sovereignty over German controlled territory in the Shandong Province (in Northeast China). When the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, China were ultimately not given the land, and it was given instead to Japan. [400/600]