|
Date: |
|
Description: | obverse design : Pan, half-length figure leaning left, leering and facing the observer. He holds a mask of Sir Edward Grey
in front of him which partly obscures the lower right of his face
obverse text : "DER ENTLARVTE GREY"
reverse design : Marianne, personifying France, bust, left profile, in robes and Phrygian cap, holding in her extended right hand an evenly
balanced pair of scales. In the left balance pan a small crown and in the right a flaming and smoking taper
reverse text : "DIE LUEGE WIDER DIE WAHRHEIT"
German First World War satirical medal by Martin Götze directed against the British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey
(1862-1933) and his perceived role as an instigator of powerful world-wide anti-German propaganda between 1914 and 1916. The artist may
have possibly exaggerated Grey's activities in this area, but the British Foreign Secretary had certainly earned a reputation for guileful
and less than transparent operations in the field of international diplomacy prior to 1914. The employment of the image of Pan may well
have been motivated to convey a shared spirit of meddlesome mischievousness or an indirect reference to Pan pipes and, by extension, the
pervasive 'music' of British propaganda. The obverse text is translated as 'Grey unmasked', and the reverse text as 'The lies against
truth'. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Subjects: | Allegory satirical Grey First World War & British anti-German Propaganda & 1914 = 1916 Edward | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Götze, Martin | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
|
|