RCC7874

Postcards From The Trenches. A German Soldier's Testimony of the Great War

ISBN 9781350015753 £30.00 21 Nov 2019
Bloomsbury Visual Arts , London & New York (2018)
Otto Schubert was a 22 year old German art student when he was drafted into the Great War. As the conflict unfolded, he painted a series of postcards that he sent to his sweetheart, Irina. During the Battles of Ypres and Verdun, he filled dozens of military issue 4" by 6" postcards with vivid images depicting the daily realities and tragedies of war. This book, beautifully illustrated with full colour reproductions of his exquisite postcards, and his other work, is Schubert's war diary, love journal, and life story. Schubert became, after the war, one of the rising stars of the Twenties, then one of the "degenerate" artists villified by the Nazis. He was shattered by the Second World War and the Cold War which followed it. The book is a beautifully produced testament to the power of art to transcend the pettiness of war. For any student of the Great War, we would recommend this as required reading.