Civil War print - Zouaves, first of three variations

Regular price $40.00 Sale

From the exhibit ZOUAVES, DEVILS & SASS, Political Passions & The Printed Envelope During The American Civil War.

Print size 24 x 18, and consciously formatted to work with a standard size store bought frame, or custom framed as you see fit.

The first of three variations on this same pose featuring a Union soldier in the Zouave uniform. Very popular with American home grown militia in the years leading up to the Civil War because the French North African troops from which it was copied were considered the fiercest and finest in the world, and it looked so snappy on parade. There were a number of Union Zouaves and Confederate Zoaves at the beginning of the war, before the uniforms were standardized into what we think of as Civil War uniforms today.

Because the Zouaves and zouave uniform are so little remembered, and because of the collective angst we as a nation often feel towards the whole of the Middle East at the beginning of the 21st century, justifiable in some areas of that broad region and unjustified in others, to see a bearded man with a gun and an American flag headed towards the capitol rushes many of us through an instant quiet storm of emotions and questions. A surprisingly apropos mood to view the images in this collection. As beautiful, poignant, even funny some of these prints are, they ultimately look into a time when we tore ourselves to shreds.

This print, as all our works, stands on its own as a complete thought and visual statement. That said, please feel free to view the other two variations of this Zouave in the exhibit. Framing and hanging all three together, with the McClellan capped zouave in the center, has made for a striking presentation.

Handmade item
Materials: Art stock enhanced matte paper, archival ink
Made to order
Only ships within United States.

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A NOTE ON OUR PROCESS, OUR CHOICES AND THE QUALITY OF THE GRAPHIC CRAFTSMANSHIP THAT GOES INTO OUR PRINTS.

Every print we deem exciting enough to present to the public via our Etsy store or available here at our studio has gone through a number of steps. The first of those is always discovering and falling in love with an obscure image, always an original that we can hold in our hands. That image is speaking to us, sometime screaming “Don’t leave me here. See what I am, what I was, what I can be, what I SHOULD be!”

There is a real sense of excitement involved, and a great many smiles and knowing grins when we make that deal and bring that ancient print, that battered photo, that scrap of ephemera that contains some scrap of genius from an unknown commercial artist home with us, knowing already how we mean to approach its restoration.

There is the heady promise of a further hunt just as real as what drags a weekend fisherman out of bed at 3AM to work a favorite brook as we start our research, looking for that great backstory, and both ready and willing to tumble down as many rabbit holes as are revealed to us to get that story.

Then there is a meticulous digital restoration that is as often as much fun as riding a vintage Moto Guzzi on a winding coastal road. I don’t care if that sounds crazy, it really is like jumping in the saddle! So many choices, so many chances to take to subtly or spectacularly give new life to otherwise permanently obscure images.

This dedication and the ongoing rush of joy in the accomplishment of it, and the opportunity to share the results in our studio and here on Etsy, is the fire of passion that keeps these engines roaring. We make every effort to ensure our customers are not just satisfied but thrilled, and we happily stand 100% behind our work.