An examination of paperwork, authority, and the everyday absurdities of military life.
The paired images treat command and compliance as theater, where official gestures carry more weight than outcomes. Bureaucracy appears intimate and intrusive at once, revealing how wartime power asserts itself through forms, orders, and anxious ritual rather than clarity or purpose.
Historical Note
These illustrations appeared in a 22 March 1917 issue of La Baïonnette as part of Pierre-Henri Cami’s feature Charlot correspondant de Guerre. Using Charlie Chaplin’s screen persona, the drawings satirize military paperwork, official posturing, and the small humiliations of life under wartime authority.
See the full Cami: Charlie Chaplin Collection here
100% heavy cotton canvas | Flat corners and sewn construction with reinforced stitching
An examination of paperwork, authority, and the everyday absurdities of military life.
The paired images treat command and compliance as theater, where official gestures carry more weight than outcomes. Bureaucracy appears intimate and intrusive at once, revealing how wartime power asserts itself through forms, orders, and anxious ritual rather than clarity or purpose.
Historical Note
These illustrations appeared in a 22 March 1917 issue of La Baïonnette as part of Pierre-Henri Cami’s feature Charlot correspondant de Guerre. Using Charlie Chaplin’s screen persona, the drawings satirize military paperwork, official posturing, and the small humiliations of life under wartime authority.
See the full Cami: Charlie Chaplin Collection here
100% heavy cotton canvas | Flat corners and sewn construction with reinforced stitching
