Gisteren Nog Misdaad ...Heden? (Yesterday's Crime ...Today?)

Frans Masereel, artist

1889–1972

Servire, publisher

Gisteren Nog Misdaad ...Heden? (Yesterday's Crime ...Today?), circa 1932

Where object was made: The Hague, Netherlands

Material/technique: letterpress; lineblock

Credit line: Anonymous gift

Accession number: 2010.0013

Not on display

Add to portfolio

If you wish to reproduce this image, please submit an image request

Images

Label texts

Exhibition Label:
"Machine in a Void: World War I & the Graphic Arts," Mar-2010, Steve Goddard
This book is a collection of Frans Masereel's anti-war graphics that appeared during the First World War in the newspaper La Feuille (The Leaflet) and in three woodcut series: Debout les Morts (Standing Dead), Les Morts Parlent (The Dead Speak), and La Ville (The City). It was obviously intended as a caution against a second world war.

Masereel shows us a group of war invalids, presented as if on display, with the cynical caption "Very Rare." Except for his head, the central figure appears to be composed entirely of prosthetic devices. The accompanying text on the facing page gives a news brief:

The Exhibition.
Rome (Stefani)-The second conference for war invalids takes place in Paris from October 12-17. The conference will conclude with an exhibition.

This is probably a reference to the Conférence interalliée pour I'etude de la rééducation professionnelle et des questions qui intéressent les invalides de la guerre (Inter Allied Conference for the study of professional re-education and other questions affecting war invalids), held in Paris in May, 1917. Exhibitions of prosthetic limbs were common during these conferences-one that took place in Berlin (Charlottenburg) included 30 artificial arms and 50 artificial legs.