The Illustration of the Great European War No. 15, Tanaka Ryōzō; Shōbidō

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Tanaka Ryōzō; Shōbidō, The Illustration of the Great European War No. 15
Tanaka Ryōzō; Shōbidō, The Illustration of the Great European War No. 15
Tanaka Ryōzō; Shōbidō
The Illustration of the Great European War No. 15
1914, Taisho period (1912–1926)
The Illustration of the Great European War No. 15, 1914, Taisho period (1912–1926)
Where object was made: Japan
Material/technique: color lithograph
Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 336 x 474 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 13 1/4 x 18 11/16 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 395 x 551 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 15 9/16 x 21 11/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 20 x 25 in
Credit line: Anonymous gift in honor of Cori Sherman North
Accession number: 2004.0175
Not on display
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Exhibition Label: "Machine in a Void: World War I & the Graphic Arts," Mar-2010, Steve Goddard Despite the geographical distance between Japan and either front, information about the events unfolding in Europe traveled quickly by telegraph. Japanese newspapers were filled with reports on what was being called the Great European War, and print artists like Tanaka used these reports together with their own imagination to create images of the War for both Japanese and Western audiences. The elements of modern warfare are all clearly visible: zeppelins float in the skies, planes dogfight, and artillery shells burst in midair and among the troops in the foreground. In the middle ground of the print, the French infantry advances in regular lines toward the German forces. Some of these details are technically accurate: zeppelins were first used for aerial bombardment on August 16, 1914, while airplanes were being used to direct artillery fire by August 29, 1914. However, the illustration of the actual event is far from accurate. The Japanese title identifies the location as Cambrai, France, but the German armies had forced the English and French forces to retreat from Cambrai several weeks earlier and the Allied forces did not retake the area until 1916. Journalistic reporting was clearly not the main concern here, although it is hard to tell if the print represents a misrepresentation of the actual battle at Cambrai, or if the artist intended to depict some future victory of the Allied forces, of which Japan was a part.