[World War I Sketches in France:] Champagne et Centre

Paris: Librairie Dorbon-Ainee, 1916. Broadsheets (12 x 9 3/4 inches and smaller). 52 hand-colored lithographs on 50 sheets, each tipped to mount, bound into a cream cloth portfolio, lithograph lists of plates on inner front and back covers, original strap enclosure, with the artist's decorative titling and signature on front cover. Indistinctly numbered, one of 50 colored copies from an edition of 450. Colophon reads (in French), "This war sketchbook - the fifth in the series by the painter Lucien Jonas, reproduced by the Librarie Dorbon-Ainee, 19 Boulevard Haussmann, in Paris, was printed in 450 numbered copies including: 350 in black, 50 hand-colored, and 50 deluxe: these contain, in addition to a double series of plates, one in blLucian Jonas was one of the more prolific illustrators during the "Great War."

"Officially accredited as a military painter in February 1915, he travelled extensively along all sections of the front lines, producing thousands of paintings and illustrations that were published in hundreds of different publications and books. Jonas tended to mix facts with allegory, creating effective propaganda that embodied his nation's wartime myths and helped shape how the War looked in the popular imagination. In portraying soldiers and officers as equals in the struggle against the Germans, he created an image of the French soldier as heroic and unflinching in their duty, prepared to give their lives for France. ack, the others in color, an original sketch of the artist. This album will never be reprinted." Lucian Jonas was one of the more prolific illustrators during the "Great War." Officially accredited as a military painter in February 1915, he travelled extensively along all sections of the front lines, producing thousands of paintings and illustrations that were published in hundreds of different publications and books. Jonas tended to mix facts with allegory, creating effective propaganda that embodied his nation's wartime myths and helped shape how the War looked in the popular imagination. In portraying soldiers and officers as equals in the struggle against the Germans, he created an image of the French soldier as heroic and unflinching in their duty, prepared to give their lives for France" (Rachel Vorhees, in: "Works of Art Pertaining to the First World War In the Spencer Museum of Art," University of Kansas, 2013).