Articles from 1915
This World War One correspondence makes for a wonderful read and it gives a very lucid picture of what the war must have been like once both sides had resigned themselves to trench warfare. The letter was dated October 8, 1914 and the British officer who composed it makes clear his sense that no modern war had ever been fought in this queer manner before.
Some of the trenches have two stories, and at the back of many of them are subterranean rest houses built of concrete and connected with the trenches by passages. The rooms are about seven feet high and ten feet square, and above the ground all evidence of the work is concealed by green boughs and shrubbery.
This W.W. I letter was written by a French infantryman who had participated in one the earliest battles of 1914. In this letter, that managed to make it into the French, British and American papers, the Frenchman took a good deal of time to describe his impressions of the first German prisoners to be taken in the war:
Their appetite is so great that, though in [the] presence of a French officer they will click their heels together properly, they never cease at the same time to munch noisily and to fill out their hollow cheeks.
A one page review by Edward Louis Bernays (1891 – 1995) writing under the nom du flak Ayhern Edwards in order to remove all suspicion that he was in reality the P.R. man who had been hired by Serge De Diaghilev (1872 – 1929) to smooth the way for his troupe as they toured the fruited plain throughout 1915. Strangely, he had nothing terribly critical to point out.
Fritz Arno Wagner (1894 – 1958) is best remembered as a pioneering cinematographer from the earliest days of the German film industry, however before he could gain the experiences necessary to become the director of photography for such films as Nosferatu, and Westfront he had to first fulfill his obligations to the Kaiser. This article is an account of his brief stint in the Hussars (ie. lancers) that he gave to the editor’s of LESLIE’S ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY NEWSPAPER.
Although the article only covers his training period, it does give the reader a sense of what life was like for an enlisted man serving in one of the highly prized regiments in the Imperial German Army.
This article will give you a good look at how the seeds were sewn as early as 1915 to ensure the rise of New York City as one of the great art centers of the world. For the first time since the 1913 Armory Show, New York was again to host an important exhibition of the European modernists. Much of the article concerns Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954) and is illustrated with a portrait of the artist by the photographer Edward Steichen.
Things were changing – not long after New York was proclaimed as the commercial capital of the art world, America was recognized as the preeminent world power, click here to read about it…
This article will give you a good look at how the seeds were sewn as early as 1915 to ensure the rise of New York City as one of the great art centers of the world. For the first time since the 1913 Armory Show, New York was again to host an important exhibition of the European modernists. Much of the article concerns Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954) and is illustrated with a portrait of the artist by the photographer Edward Steichen.
Things were changing – not long after New York was proclaimed as the commercial capital of the art world, America was recognized as the preeminent world power, click here to read about it…
French war artist Charles Huard (1875 – 1965) produced theses seven illustrations of French Poilus as they once stood guard in the frozen misery of the Soisson trenches during the first winter of the war.
Huard’s experiences as a war artist can be read in his memoir: My Home In The Field Of Honor (1916)
World War I had only been raging for six months when this article first appeared. As the journalist makes clear, one did not have to have an advanced degree in history to recognize that this war was unique; it involved almost every wealthy, industrialized European nation and their far-flung colonies; thousands of men were killed daily and many more thousands stepped forward to take their places. The writer recognized that this long anticipated war was an epic event and that, like the French Revolution, it would be seen by future generations as a marker which indicated that all changes began at that point:
Those who were but a few months ago assuring us that there never could be another general war are most vociferously informing the same audience that this will be the last.
Click here to read about the W.W. I efforts of Prince Edward, the future Duke of Windsor.
This is a VANITY FAIR art review that was reverently torn from the brittle, yellowing pages of a 1915 issue of VANITY FAIR covering the first Paul Cezanne (1839 – 1906) exhibit on American shores.
By the Spring of 1915, the women of Paris, having seen that the Great War was not going away anytime soon, decided that it was time to add some gaiety into their wardrobe. Steadily – since the August of the previous year, there had been such bad news and although the rationing of fabric continued, there was still much available for the asking.
Click to read about the U.S. fabric rationing during W.W. II.
A 1915 diagram from a French news magazine depicting the depth of a German front-line dugout. John Laffin makes it quite clear in his World War One book, The Western Front Companion:<img src=http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=oldmagazinear-20&l=as2&o=1&a=075091520X width=1 height=1 border=0 alt= style=border:none !important; margin:0px !important;:, that the term dugout seems misleading when applied to the Germans:
From 1915, the remarkably well developed German positions, notably on the Somme front, reflected their strategic advantage. They were on enemy soil, the Germans held the initiative and they could afford to settle down in their dugouts. Hence, most had electricity, drainage, sewage system, piped water, a telephone system and many were heated. The soldiers could lie down on mattresses resting on beds made of stacking stretched over wooden frames, and -and because of deep overhead cover – 30 to 40 feet of it, they were safe even during heavy shell fire.
This article appears on this site by way of a special agreement with L’Illustration.
Click here to see a 1915 ad for British Army military camp furniture.
Click here to read an article about life in a W.W. I German listening post…
A five paragraph account regarding the royal families of Europe; how close they were prior to the war and the important roll played by Queen Victoria in maintaining the strong bond between them. One particular line of note:
Queen Victoria was the only human being whom the Kaiser feared.
Click here to read another article about the war and the royal families.
William James Henderson (1855 – 1937) was believed by many to be the greatest music critic of his day, and in this VANITY FAIR article he turns his nib in the direction of the pianists Ignace Paderewski (1860 – 1941), Harold Bauer (1873 – 1951), Ferruccio Busoni (1866 – 1924) and Josef Hofmann (1876 – 1957).
Tamaki Miura (1884 – 1946) was a Japanese opera singer most often remembered for having performed in over 2,000 stagings of Madame Butterfly. At the time this short notice appeared she was only one year into her opera career, yet the Vanity Fair music critic recognized talent when he saw it and nominated her for the Vanity Fair Hall of Fame. It was her inclusion in that august body that serves as the the subject for this short paragraph, which is accompanied by a photograph.
Golf shoes were the topic of this segment from a VANITY FAIR fashion review for men, as it appeared in the June issue of 1915.
The tremendous advances in artillery that took place during the years leading up to the war helped to reintroduce an old, time-tested element to the uniforms of the 20th Century soldier: the helmet.
So numerous were head injuries from high-explosive shells during the first year of the war that it compelled the doctors on both sides to beg their respective generals to issue some measure of cranium protection in order to reduce the casualty figures. As you will read in the attached article, the French began to wear helmets in the fall of 1915; the British and Germans a year later.
Jacob Epstein was brought up in the city of New York, being one of a group of young men from the other side of the Bowery, some of whom have since become well known in the arts.
Attached is a photograph of the American expatriot sculptor Jacob Epstein and three of his pieces. This is a short notice heralding the great splash that the artist was making in the London art world of 1915. Although his work can be found in many of the world’s finest museums, Epstein is best remembered today for his creation of the monumental sculpture that marks the grave of Oscar Wilde.
