Posters celebrating the effort of Britain and its allies in the Second World War have become familiar images in Western popular culture. But how was the war reported from the perspective of the other side?
20 January 2022
THE CHURCHILL OCTOPUS
c.1941, a Vichy France World War II propaganda poster
£4,000-5,000
Our Out of the Ordinary sale on 15-16 February includes a chromolithograph propaganda poster published in occupied Paris by the Vichy government in 1942.
Signed with a monogram of the artist ‘SPK’, it depicts Winston Churchill as an octopus with its tentacles representing British military intervention in the Middle East and Africa.
The text reads Confiance... Ses Amputations Se Poursuivent Methodiquement (Have Faith – The Systematic Amputations Are Continuing).
The desire was to spotlight the areas of conflict that existed between Vichy French forces and the British and the Free French. The cutting of these tentacles reflects the thwarting of British actions in Norway, Germany, Syria, Somalia, Libya, Mers el Kebir and Dakar by Axis forces.
This well known but rare image is guided at £4,000-5,000.
The term ‘Company School’ refers to a genre of painting that emerged in India in the late 18th and 19th centuries, flourishing under the patronage of British East India Company officials, their families, and other European residents in India. Sworders Asian & Islamic Art department is pleased to present a curated selection of these wonderfully insightful works in their next auction on Friday 15 May.
20 April 2026
A fascinating group of 42 lots from the Sir Thomas Longmore library feature in our Books, Manuscripts and Maps auction, offering a rare insight into Victorian military medicine and reform. Highlights include two letters by Florence Nightingale, alongside annotated books and personal volumes from Longmore’s own collection.
16 April 2026
A remarkable group of books from the library of Professor C.J.F. Dowsett will feature in our April Books, Manuscripts and Maps sale. The collection reflects a lifetime of scholarship in Armenian, Iranian and Near Eastern studies.
16 April 2026