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.
Sworders are delighted to be presenting contents from the personal collection of the celebrated art collector Doris Lockhart Saatchi in our autumn auctions.
24 September 2026
A collection of Georgian silver flatware offered in our 22-28 September Open House sale provides a tangible link to one of the most memorable figures in the history of Eton College: Dr John Keate, Headmaster from 1809 to 1834.
23 September 2026
Our 13 October auction, The Glass Sale, presents a fantastic private collection of John Hutton works.
23 September 2026