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Ben Cassam
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Between 1917 and 1920, Swiss artist
Eugène Burnand (1850-1921) drew over a hundred portraits of the various allies in World War I.
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| Serraghi Cherrif |
He drew them with
Wolff pencils
. The color was added with
Hardtmuth hard pastels
. Burnand's keen observation was shaped during his training at the École des Beaux-Arts with
Jean-Léon Gérôme.
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| Jean Bellac |
Many of his subjects posed for him while they were recuperating between deployments,.
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| Tirailleur Famory |
Burnand was interested in the various ethnicities and facial types of the military men.
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| Mohamed Ben Binhouan |
He drew them all with sympathy but also objectivity.
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| Lé Naplong |
Most are shown with indirect light, and with an upshot angle, increasing the sense of dignity.
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| Lé Tiep |
He often subordinated the edges around the neck and shoulders, and concentrated the attention on the eyes and mouth.
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| Private Roshan Dean |
It's a genuine accomplishment in portraiture to capture the uniqueness of the individual's physiognomy but also their universal emotion.
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Auxiliary Chan Mohamed
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He got to know each of them first and developed a relationship of trust. Sometimes the sitting became more like a confessional.
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Rev. Père Rouillon
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He offered to pay them for sitting, but many of them refused to accept the money, as they felt honored to pose.
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Serbian infantry private
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Resources to learn more:
See the rest of Burnand's WWI portraits online
Drawings on display Museum of the Legion of Honor (
Légion d'honneur) in Paris.
The drawings were published in 1922 a book called
Les alliés dans la guerre des nations.
Here's a modern book that includes the work from
Les Alliés Dans La Guerre Des Nations.
Review by Gabriel Weisberg of a catalog of a 2004 exhibition of Burnand's work.
Eugène Burnand on Wikipedia
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