Compagnons de France by Raoul Eric Castel – Art Print

A Vichy Government poster depicts the Vichy Chief of State Philippe Petain (1856-1951) above a line of teenage boys from the youth organisation Compagnons de France, circa 1941.

The Compagnons de France was a Vichy-era youth organization, founded in the summer of 1940 and dissolved in January 1944. Its membership was never numerous, a few tens of thousands at most.

Raoul Eric Castel was a visual artist who was born in 1915. Castel began his career as a poster artist during the war, becoming the artist with the largest known number of Vichy commissions. In the 1950’s and 1960’s he was highly sought after poster artist and especially associated with Emprunt Acie. The artist died in 1997.

1941/France