Jean-Jacques Waltz alias Hansi : Ex-Libris 1942 – Plate-Signed (hand-signed)

By HANSI (1873-1951)

Hansi (Jean-Jacques Waltz, 1873–1951)
Ex-libris Fernand J. Heitz — “Je la reconnais, c’est la cigogne de mon village!”, 1942
Line block (zincograph, “cliché zinc”) printed in black on cream wove paper
Signed and dated “Hansi 1942” in the plate (lower-right banderole); hand-signed in pencil “Hansi” in the lower margin
Dimensions — Sheet: 14 × 10 cm (5 1/2 × 3 15/16 in.); Image: 12 × 7.5 cm (4 3/4 × 2 15/16 in.)
Condition: In good condition; unframed
Note: A comparable impression is held at the Musée de l’image populaire, Pfaffenhoffen (inv. MIPP 1993.1.141.10)
Bookplate made for Fernand J. Heitz, appointed Conseiller à la Cour d’Appel d’Alger in 1940. In three registers within a heavy black border: above, an Alsatian village overflown by a stork with Strasbourg cathedral in the distance; at the centre, an Algerian setting (minaret, palm) where two little Alsatians in cockaded traditional costume — refugees with their luggage and gas masks, the boy’s suitcase labelled “30 kg” and stamped with a swastika — pause as the girl points to a passing stork and exclaims “Je la reconnais, c’est la cigogne de mon village!” (“I recognise it — it’s the stork of my village!”); below, a lily-strewn ground bearing the owner’s name banner flanked by the arms of Basse-Alsace, Saverne, Strasbourg, Colmar and Haute-Alsace. A poignant, gently satirical image of Alsatian exile under the Occupation by Hansi, the great Colmar illustrator and committed anti-German patriot; the 1940 date records Heitz’s appointment, the plate itself signed and dated 1942.

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