La Révolution
Georges Scott
Pour le Drapeau! Pour la Victoire!
[For the Flag! For Victory!]
1917, PST 5135
H Falter
Quatrième Emprunt de la Défense Nationale
[Fourth National Defence Loan]
1918, PST 0498
Adolfe Leon Willette
Semaine de la Charente Inférieure
[Lower Charente Week]
1917, PST 11225
The most prevalent historical images in French posters were those inspired by the Revolution of 1789. This period, in which the modern French Republic emerged, acted as a prime source of iconography for the French nation’s perception of liberty and independence.
In particular, the figure of Marianne was used tirelessly. Marianne was a personification of Liberty, a descendant of the idealized democracies of Ancient Greece and Rome. She was elevated to the level of a French national symbol and at such a time of national crisis, she was illustrated as both an actual and a metaphorical inspiration.
In Scott's poster, Marianne is shown in a military role, leading her troops onwards to victory, pictured against a tattered Tricolore. Falter’s design similarly shows Marianne overseeing the advance of her soldiers, led at the forefront by a revolutionary drummer boy. In both posters, the figure of Marianne is used to unite the past with the present. Through her, the aura of the Revolutionary era continues to lead the modern army.
Willette's design shows a drummer girl, dressed in revolutionary era clothing, employed to advertise a modern cause. The revolutionary image and associations may emanate from another time, but are once more relevant to a nation caught in the midst of war.
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