In this poster promoting the Emprunt National (National Loan) of 1920 for the postwar reconstruction of France, Charles Albert Walhain shows a fisherman carrying a basket of fish with a busy harbor in the background. The image references the seaside location of the Banque Adam, founded in Boulogne-Sur-Mer in 1776, one of the French banks that administered the loan, as well as the resumption of economic activity in this region of northwestern France. During the years of national reconstruction, this bank played an important role in the region’s economic recovery. The illustration here, by the French portrait artist and sculptor Charles Albert Walhain, is less allegorical and romanticized than those that characterized many French fundraising posters during the war and suggests the need for practical solutions to the rebuilding of the country.
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