Lot 263: PROPAGANDA POSTER WWI LA GRANDE GUERRE MONTAGNE MOUNTAINS SKIING BENITO

Original vintage WWI propaganda poster: La Grande Guerre - La Guerre en Montagne - Une Rencontre entre Skieurs (Text translates as: The Great War - War in the mountains - A meeting between skiers). Woodcut print with hand colouring through stencils by Eduardo Garcia Benito (1891-1981) featuring a group of Chasseurs Alpins, or Alpine troops, chasing Germans soldiers in the Vosges department, through snowy slopes with pine forests and mountains ranges depicted in the distance. The elite mountain troops were trained to operate in mountainous terrain. They were given the nicknamed Les Diables bleus ('blue devils') because of their uniform, which at the time was more modest than the regular French army. They wore a large black beret, known as la tarte, a short jacket and puttees (like gaiters, but wrapped spirally up the leg from ankle to knee, also worn by the BEF or British Expeditionary Force). Print no. 46 from the 2nd series La Grande Guerre. Published by Tolmer & Co. Eduardo Benito was a Spanish fashion illustrator and painter, noted for his Vogue covers of the 1920s and 1930s. He studied at the Mignon studio, and later trained under Daniel Vierge. In 1912 he moved to Paris, he later spent 15 years painting Vogue covers. Among Benito's subjects as a portrait painter were Alfonso XIII of Spain, Paul Poiret, and the Chinese Royal family. Also in 1912, he won a scholarship to study at L’École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Good condition, small tears in bottom margin, folds, foxing and staining in margins. Country: France, year of printing: 1915, designer: Eduardo Garcia Benito, size (cm): 32.5x39.5 (Horizontal)