Adolf Hitler]
[March 2, 2009
World War I: Flanders II (Watercolours)
This portfolio with a small selection of watercolours, which Adolf Hitler painted in the course of his military service during World War I, was edited about 1935 by his official photographer Heinrich Hoffmann. It is assumed that Hitler was involved in the editing process. Even so, shortly after the appearance he withdrew and stopped the delivery. The seven collotype reproductions mainly show architectural motifs in Flanders. He apparently had a preference for romantic ruins and deserted sites. In his technique Hitler tried to follow the example of his favourite artist, the famous Viennese veduta painter Rudolf Ritter von Alt.The period of World War I marked a last heyday of the long tradition of graphic reporting and the art of watercolour, with artists like François Flameng, John Singer Sargent and the late Theodor Rocholl as their most excellent purveyors.