Fantaisie prusso-américaine en 2 hémisphères. French paranoia satirical map 1872
£440
SKU
Où peut mener la question de l’Alabama — Fantaisie prusso-américaine en deux hémisphères [Where the Alabama affair may lead — A Prusso-American Fantasy in Two Hemispheres]
A large and ferociously serio-comic satirical French paranoia map issued shortly after the Franco-Prussian War and the settlement of the United States' Alabama Claims against the United Kingdom. Conceived as a pair of world hemispheres overwhelmed by caricature, allegory, and polemical text, the print addresses the upheaval of the post-1871 world order, reflecting France’s deep bitterness over its defeat and its anxiety at the emergence of a global system dominated by Prussia and the United States. Germany is depicted as a brutal, militarised colossus stripping Europe of territory, enriched by billions in war indemnities and imposing Germanic names on conquered lands. The United States appears as predatory and coercive, presenting a weakened and humiliated Britannia with a bill while holding a gun to her head—in reference to the Alabama Claims, compensation paid by Britain for damage caused by Confederate commerce raiders built in British shipyards during the American Civil War. Kaiser Wilhelm is styled the “successor to Charlemagne,” while a Yankee and two Prussian soldiers debate the division of the globe over un déjeuner à la carte, exploiting the double meaning of the French word for menu and map. The oceans swarm with American gunboats, and the text invokes the “regeneration of the continents” through the “Yankee” and “Krupp” systems, linking the Old and New Worlds by a transoceanic railroad. A superb example of late-19th-century French cartographic satire, expressing national trauma and geopolitical anxiety with remarkable visual force.
Size 33 x 50 cm | 13.0 x 19.5 inches
Date Published: 9th March 1872 [dated on reverse]
Type: Large engraved serio-comic satirical paranoia map
Author: Yves & Barret
Publication: La Vie Parisienne
Condition: Good |
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