Henri Gervex, French, born Paris, - Un Poilu Blesse, 1915 - 1915 - T-Shirt

A half-length pastel portrait of a bandaged French infantryman, drawn on sage-grey paper and signed by Henri Gervex in 1915.

Visual Elements & Composition

The sheet is upright, and the sage-green paper fills most of it. Against that ground, the soldier's charcoal and navy greatcoat, brass buttons, and red-and-blue kepi form the darkest masses. A cream bandage crosses his brow and eyes, making it the brightest point in the image. Flesh tones appear only in small areas of the face. The figure dissolves into the paper at the lower edge, so the head and shoulders hold the eye. A handwritten dedication, À nos grands amis les Américains, runs across the upper margin. Below the figure sit the title Un Poilu blessé, the date 1915, and the signature H. Gervex.

Meaning & Symbolism

Poilu was the affectionate French nickname for the ordinary infantryman of the First World War, and the title names the sitter as one of them. The bandage and the bowed head put the wound at the centre of the image and present the soldier as an individual rather than a heroic type. The dedication to the Americans places the drawing within the wartime exchange of gratitude and sympathy between France and the United States, and it marks the sheet as a gift to an allied audience. Gervex (1852–1929) was known for Parisian society portraits and Belle Époque scenes. This pastel turns that practice toward the war at home.

On the Tee

The portrait is built around one figure with a clear centre, so the bandage and the downcast gaze read from across a room and hold up at close range. Worn, the image sits across the chest and reads as a face rather than a pattern. The soft, smudged handling of the pastel carries the sombre mood of the original, so the sheet's quiet tone comes through on the shirt.