Bless the French! They Kept Up Their Production of Naughty Cartoons in Wartime

Laying Siege to a Heart

By Tony Langley

La Vie Parisienne was one of the best-known risqué magazines. Published in Paris, its stood symbol for a high-spirited and slightly hedonistic lifestyle in which women, wine, and having a good time were considered to be of prime importance in life. It made a name for itself by printing numerous drawings and illustrations (no photographs) of lovely looking ladies in all stage of dress and undress. Sometimes, the nicely or scantily dressed girls would be shown expressing anti-German sentiments or performing heroic deeds but almost always with a hint of the erotic. The illustrations were made by artists such as Leonnec and Hérouard, many of whom later became rightly famous for their charming depictions of the female.

Utterly innocent and inoffensive by modern standards, the magazine nevertheless managed to offend the bourgeois sensibilities of many a straight-laced individual, especially those living outside of France. Some American and British military authorities unfavorably mentioned La Vie Parisienne by name as an unhealthy influence upon the manners and mores of the troops.

Publication continued during the war years and the magazine was no doubt eagerly read by soldiers at and behind the front lines, French, British, American, or German for that matter. War-related humor was quite the thing during 1914-18 of course and several collections of cartoons and drawings from La Vie Parisienne were published. This collection of cartoons comes from a volume called l'Amour en Campagne (Love on Campaign). Most of the drawings were simply excuses to show ladies in various romantic or erotic situations. Here we have chosen those with a military theme.

 

Cover for a Collection of 100 Cartoons
from La Vie Parisienne

"It's not only the front line trenches that are dangerous" —
a joke about the hastily built barricades around Paris in August 1914

She wants nothing more to do with things "made in Germany."

Howling at the moon and zeppelins

One of the fruits of war: the hand grenade

 
Everything a good French soldier needs to go on campaign

Source:  From the Tony Langley Collection