Armistice on the Western Front

On Nov. 11, 1918, after more than four years of horrific fighting and the loss of millions of lives, the guns on the Western Front fell silent. Although fighting continued elsewhere, the armistice between Germany and the Allies was the first step to ending World War I. The global reaction was one of mixed emotions: relief, celebration, disbelief and a profound sense of loss.

“And this is the end of it. In three hours the war will be over. It seems incredible even as I write it. I suppose I ought to be thrilled and cheering. Instead I am merely apathetic and incredulous … There is some cheering across the river—occasional bursts of it as the news is carried to the advanced lines. For the most part, though, we are in silence … With all is a feeling that it can’t be true. For months we have slept under the guns … We cannot comprehend the stillness.”

— Robert Casey, Battery C, 124th Field Artillery Regiment, 33rd Division, November 11, 1918. – National WWI Museum and Memorial website

On the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month- November 11, 1918, Allied and German representatives signed the Armistice to end World War 1. At this moment in New York City along Fifth Ave., amateur photographer Albert E. Schaaf recorded the hoisting of flags from the sides of buildings and the large crowd celebrating from the street below. A truly historical event captured by his camera for posterity and transformed in his darkroom in a most artistic way.

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Mr. Schaaf was well known for his photography. His home-oil pictures hang in salons all over the world. Recently the Smithsonian Institution requested some of his old pictures. Two sons survive. – The New York Times– obituary excerpt, June 9, 1950

Albert Ernest Schaaf: 1866-1950

Amateur photographer and Cleveland industrialist Albert E. Schaaf, a business executive in bicycle and automobile manufacturing in his early career, became the founder and eventual chairman of the board of the Air-Maze Corporation in 1925, a manufacturer of air and liquid filters that became a pioneer in their development across a wide range of uses. Vintage Works, LTD. website states: “Schaaf became photographically active in the teens and 1920s. He was known to work in alternative processes, including gum prints, oil prints, bromoils and bromoil transfers.”

This particular photograph, more commonly titled Armistice Morning–Fifth Avenue, hung in five separate salons as late as 1928, as itemized by the artist on the print verso of an example held by the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. This print, where the artist used gouache around the entire print as a thick border, is shown here with its modern overmat removed in order to give viewers an idea of the artists original presentation intent, as envisioned in 1919, the year he made it.