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Pictures of the First World War in Illustrated Weeklies Published in Belgium (1914-1918)
| 1914-1918 in Belgium is a geographical and chronological period that offered a unique context for development and circulation of a rich and varied iconographic corpus. Our paper proposes to explore two illustrated weeklies published, under the control of the German censorship, in occupied Belgium. L’événement illustré is a documentary, artistic and literary magazine, which appears from February 1915 to March 1918. 1914-1918 illustré is a periodical that appeared in July 1914. Its title is then 1914 illustré. It will continue to be published throughout the war under the successive titles 1914-1915 illustré, 1914-1916 illustré…
If there are plates and drawings, the essential basis of these two magazines is photography.
Initially, we will examine the context of production and circulation of these weeklies. In a second step, we will analyze the iconographic corpus that allows a counter-analysis of a society, especially a society under supervision of an occupant. L. Gervereau present an interesting chronology of the iconographic representations of the War in France. At the beginning of the conflict, pictures multiply the indices of national power. 1916 shows a break with the appearance of an “effect of reality”: there are more and more shock photos and they henceforth tend to describe the war and its "marks". Is this chronology applicable to the Belgian case? Do we find these same thematic shifts? Unlike the French weeklies, it seems that throughout the conflict, both Belgian weeklies give to see the outskirts of a war 'quiet', and especially a war far away from the borders of Belgium. These pictures give evidence of a “war culture” peculiar to occupied Belgium that it’s important to highlight.
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