Pascha 1917

This German woodcut or lithograph depicts a biblical Passover scene reimagined as contemporary commentary on World War I. Robed figures gesture toward a vast landscape of conflict—soldiers, fortifications, and water suggesting the scale of industrial warfare. The print employs the tradition of religious allegory for political satire, echoing techniques from Daumier and German Bilderbogen picture-sheets that used historical or sacred narratives to critique current events. The work likely comments on suffering and deliverance during the war's fourth year. As caricature and cartoon art evolved from 18th-century prints through 19th-century mass media, such layered visual commentary became foundational to modern comics' blend of image and social critique.