The Dead Artists Gallery presents “Alsatian Maiden, Flowered Dress”

O/Linen

This early 20th century (c.1900-1910) unsigned portrait of this beautiful, young Alsatian woman was found in the South of France. Alsace, the most north-eastern department in France, is known for its fertile land and tumultous geopolitics- having changed hands from Holy Roman, to Spanish-via-Habsburgs, to French, back to  German within the two centuries spanning 1671 and 1871. Restored to France after WWI, the region was nevertheless recontested in 1940 when it was declared part of the Westmark Reich. Around 100,000 Alsatian men were conscripted into the German army against their will, an unknown amount of Alsatian women were absorbed into various Nazi homefront organizations.

.

$750