The pamphlet above is reproduced in its entirety. Some images may be familiar from the postcards issued in Europe in the 1920's. This is by far the most detailed account of the subject matter and philiosophy of the the most ambitious and pointless exercise in visual propaganda generated by the Victor in the First World War.

The gargantuan mural scheme supervised by Carrier-Belleuse and A.F.Gurguet was started in 1914 and by 1919, the date of this pamphlet, was in a reasonable finished state. In 1922, with what looked like indecent haste, the picture, 402 feet by 48, with 6000 life-sized figures(18,000 square feet) left Paris for the " a tour of the principal cities of the world". Under the supervision of Gustave Brandt, the mural was erected in Washington in 1931 and two years later became a dubious feature of the Chicago Century of Progress (1931). After 1936 the entire work was bought by William Henry Haussner for his restaurant in Baltimore. Over the years sections of this tedious monstrosity was lost, donated or destroyed. You can glimpse work at the Kansas City Liberty Memorial Association where the remaining murals have been restored and fitted into a new scheme at the Memorial Museum where they look sumptuous in Chris M's photographs (see beneath).

Thanks to Chris M

for his marvellous photographs