XXI. Trebuchon

“Trebuchon” refers to Augustin-Joseph Victorin Trebuchon, the last French soldier to die in World War 1 at 10:45am on November 11, 1918- just fifteen minutes before the Armistice was to take effect. He joined at the start of the war in August 1914 and made it through alive all the way to November 11, 1918, only to be killed just minutes prior to peace thanks to his officers who just didn’t know how to quit (and this is why I hate officers) The French army was so embarrassed that they changed his death date to November 10, 1918. But the truth came out eventually.

So why make a sculpture about it? Well, the dedication was more of an afterthought. I originally wanted to make a head in the style of the sculptor Amedeo Modigliani, an Italian painter and sculptor. He died destitute and young from TB in 1920 (and couldn’t join the war because of his health), but his painting and sculpture style are now well-known with their elongated heads and flattened faces- he was fascinated by tribal masks from Africa and his sculptures (and paintings) evoke that. I like Modigliani and his sculptures and paintings, but I wanted to take it a bit further. I have a number of old helmets and I particularly like the French one. I also do a lot of reading about WWI, a pretty much forgotten war for most people, but literally a million French soldiers died in some of the most stupid, senseless, and brutal battles. The French lost 1.4 million men, and their dead and wounded totaled more than 4.2 million- 71% of all of their soldiers in the 4 years of war. In contrast, something like 70,000 Americans died in Vietnam over some 8 eight years. The Lord of the Rings trilogy was inspired by Tolkien’s experiences during the war and the incredible carnage. With my recent reading of mental illness as a result of the war (“shell shock” or PTSD as we call it now) WWI has been on my mind. So naturally once I had a French soldier it was only fitting to give him a name- Augustin Trebuchon. Unfortunately just another “last soldier” to die at the end of another war.

Oh, and 4.5 out of 5.

The real Augustin Trebuchon.