Journée du Poilu organisée par le parlement 1915

This poignant original poster was created by Francisque Poulbot in 1915 for the Journée du Poilu, a national charitable campaign organised by the French Parliament during the First World War. The word poilu was the affectionate popular name given to French infantrymen serving at the front.

Poulbot depicts two modestly dressed children collecting donations, one of them wearing a Red Cross nurse’s uniform and holding a small collection box. Beneath them appears the touching appeal, “Pour que papa vienne en permission, s’il vous plaît” — “So that Daddy can come home on leave, please.”

Rather than relying on heroic battlefield imagery, the artist presents the conflict through the experience of children separated from their father. The restrained black and grey drawing is enlivened by delicate touches of red, connecting the Red Cross symbols, the typography and the decorative border.

Francisque Poulbot was a celebrated French illustrator closely associated with the street children of Montmartre, who eventually became known as “poulbots” in his honour. His sympathetic portrayals of childhood made him particularly effective in creating emotionally compelling charitable and patriotic posters.

Combining social history, wartime propaganda and distinctive French illustration, this original poster is an evocative document of civilian life during the First World War. It will appeal to collectors of military history, charitable posters and early twentieth-century French graphic art.

Original poster

Politics - Military - 14-18

So that Dad comes to permission please

Devambez Paris

Good condition, traces of folds, slight dirt