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Catalogue information
LastDodo number
6850869
Area
Drawings / paintings
Title
Va Banque....
Art object
Art Movement / style
Genre
Material
Technique used
Colouring
Dimensions
44 x 32 cm
Series / hero
Collection / set
Number
Addition to number
Year
1939
Country
Language
Details
Original political cartoon on card in pen/brush and ink, 1939, published in De Indische Post, shows Mars the god of war and the grim reaper playing roulette on the future of the ‘neutrale staten’ (neutral states), prepared to go ‘va banque’, i.e. bet against the banker's whole stake. The spaces on the table ‘noir’, ‘rouge’, ‘passe’ and ‘impasse’ (instead of manque) are replaced by respectively ‘rouw’, ‘bloed’, ‘inzet millioenen menschenlevens’ and ‘zonder uitweg’ (sorrow, blood, betting on millions of human lives and no way out). Most of the smaller states in Europe had declared themselves neutral in the conflict brewing during the 1930s and, once war did break out, they could only wait and see whether their neutrality would be respected. There can only be losers in this cartoon, and this prediction would turn out to be very accurate in the years that followed. The caption in the lower border is ‘Het spel tussen Mars en Dood om de Neutraliteit....’, (the neutrality game between Mars and Death). Paper size 44 x 32 cm, image size 40 x 28 cm, signed lower left with captions in pencil in upper and lower borders. The cartoon has been folded into four at some point, otherwise in good condition.