Artist Jean-Jacques Berne-Bellecour: Two British Officers playing cards outside their dugout, Secteur de Bapaume, 1918–20

Artist Jean-Jacques Berne-Bellecour (1874 - 1939): Two British Officers playing cards outside their dugout, Secteur de Bapaume, 1918–20

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Jean-Jacques Berne-Bellecour (1874 - 1939):
Two British Officers playing cards outside their dugout, Secteur de Bapaume, 1918–20
Framed (ref: 2587)

Signed and dated, inscribed ‘Secteur de Bapaume 1918’

Oil on canvas, 18 1/2 x 24 1/2 in. (47 x 62.3 cm.)

See all works by Jean-Jacques Berne-Bellecour oil men war work



Provenance: Private collection, France.
Literature: Jean-Jacques Berne-Bellecour , Dans les Lignes Anglaises, 1917.

Berne-Bellacour served at the Battle of the Marne, during which he made some drawings.These were so well received that he was appointed Peintre du Ministère de la Guerre et du Musée de l’Armée, and he continued to sketch French and English troops in this capacity.

In 1917 he produced a celebrated series of watercolours, which were reproduced as photogravure prints in a portfolio entitled Dans les Lignes
Anglaises. In this book, he wrote of his fascination with the smartness of British Officers under all conditions: ‘these English Officers in every circumstance of their existence look as if they had just come out of their bathroom.’This is a rare example by the artist of a painting in oil, showing two British soldiers of the Secteur de Bapaume, best known for its role in the Somme offensive of 1916.