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Murder on the high seas

Raemaekers, Louis, 1916, Chromolithograph
Murder on the high seas
Murder on the high seas
Murder on the high seas
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Category
Library Item
Item no
33012
Title
Murder on the high seas
Description
"Well, have you nearly done?"

'One of the most powerful of the cartoons, both in drawing and in psychological interpretation of national moods. Notice the nervous tension in Uncle Sam's figure, like a dog swaggering up stiffly to show the other dog he is ready to fight. Again, how admirable is the clumsy heaviness of the German, interrupted unexpectedly in the midst of his butchery, menacing, yet uncertain of the newcomer's meaning. Compare the mouths of the two men, and for other examples of the artist's study of animal passion in his delineation of ugly mouths, refer to Cartoons, 17,25, 88. The cartoon, 29 July 1915, is a commentary on the American Note to Germany , 21 July, which was in the nature of an ultimatum. The observance of neutral rights "is a critical matter, and the repetition by the commanders of naval vessels of acts of contravention of those rights, must be regarded by the Government of the United States, when they affect American citizens, as deliberately unfriendly." The torpedoing of the White Star liner, the "Arabic," 19 August, Count Bernstorff's pledge, 1 September, and his string of fresh proposals and subsequent evasions, proved that the German Government, in its Notes, was merely amusing itself a the expense of "those idiotic Yankees," vide Captain von Papen."
Artist / maker
Date
1916
Size
33 x 20.5 cm.
Location
Art and Design Library
Copyright
Louis Raemaekaers' drawings are reproduced by kind permission of the Louis Raemaekers Foundation.