The Online Hermann-Paul Project

Description: Color lithograph of Wilbur Wright behind the controls of a Wright Model A Flyer. In 1908, the Brothers signed a contract with a French company and flew demonstration runs in Le Havre.

Description: This is an early black and white woodcut which probably dates to late 1914 or early 1915. It is very likely one of H-P's first works in the medium. (In this article, I describe my skepticism with woodcuts dated prior to 1914)

Before the First World War, Hermann-Paul's graphic arts were mostly done as lithographs, etchings and dry points. When war broke out, metal became scarce and the artist turned to wood.

In this scene, he depicts another chapter in the Rape of Belgium. German soldiers hide behind women, children and clergy as they return fire on the Belgian army. Any sympathy Hermann-Paul had for the international brotherhood of workers, dissolved when Germany invaded Belgium. His position on the war drew harsh criticism from former allies on the political left.

Description: Hermann-Paul was fifty when the German army launched its 1914 invasion of France. Its route to Paris was through neutral Belgium. News of German atrocities spread like wild fire. Most tales were exaggerated in order to produce sympathy for the neutral nation. In 1915, Hermann-Paul released a series of prints that depicted the early stages of the war. The medium was wood as metal was now prized as an implement of death. The series was ironically titled, The Four Seasons of Culture. The well executed series helped cement Hermann-Paul's reputation as a graphic artist but it drew criticism from the political left.

Description: As the first plate makes clear, this is no longer the Culture of Geothe and Schiller. The once highly cultivated German was now a destructive Boshe. His skin is a aglow with the flames he puts to Belgian houses. Where he once constructed beautiful Dresden, he now lays waste to Liege.

Description: In a series of six plates, Hermann-Paul devotes two to rape. To his critics, the attention he gives that crime is disproportionate to its occurrence. Here the Boche invades the home. The assault takes place in the master bedroom. He is dressed in field gray. To ensure no question about his identity, a pickelhauben lies in the foreground. Thin lines in the black plate enable the artist to achieve an excellent array of texture.

Description: The number of perpetrators grows. Rape is no longer an isolated crime. The landscape is barren and the Germans resemble the pitch fork wielding mob of yore. After its success on the ground, the German army takes what it considers its reward. Her clothes hang from her body as if she had been taken before. Her dress falls and impedes her ability to flee. She'll be taken again.

Description: The Germans are seen systematically enriching themselves with Belgian possessions. In this plate, they demonstrate far more care for objects than they did for people. There was no accountability during the ransack, now the officer checks dry goods against his list.

Description: During the 1890s, Hermann-Paul made his name as a harsh critic of the French army and military expansion. In this series, he simply moved his criticisms from France to Germany. To many on the left, this series was little more than propaganda designed to heighten tensions and prolong the war. How do you negotiate peace with the Kultur depicted in these plates? The series does seem out of character. As the war goes on, his true personality begins to reappear.

Description: "Peace! Of course, my old Zimmerwald but you are no more anxious than we, are you not?"

Zimmerwald refers to a socialist summit which was held in 1915 in Switzerland. The assembly included participants from throughout Europe including those from both sides of the belligerent divide. Unable to agree on much, the assembly passed a resolution which expressed sympathy for the victims of war.

With this illustration, Hermann-Paul places some distance between his 1917 self and his pre-war past. The socialist sentiment is nice but hardly meaningful to the men in the trenches. Sure they want peace but it appears they also want victory.

Description: Cover for the first folio of Hermann-Paul's Calendrier de la Guerre. This set includes twelve colored woodcuts each representing a month of the Great War from it's beginning in August 1914 until July 1915. In the first folio, each month is represented by a place, a battle or an event such as mobilization. The second folio depicts leaders and personalities.

This particular copy was signed by the artist and presented to Gustave Herve, a left wing critic of the army before the war who, like Hermann-Paul, became an advocate for the French army when it was all that stood between them and German imperialism.