Vintage travel poster by the legendary poster artist Lucien Boucher. Published by the Association Nationale pour L'Indochine Francaise to advocate for continued French rule over Indochina after WW2.

This poster, entitled 'Indochine Francaise' , was commissioned by the above mentioned Association. This was a lobby group founded in 1943 under the administration of the Free French in Algiers. Its objectives were for France to maintain a relationship with its French colonies in Southeast Asia, both during the war and after its conclusion. They published a newsletter and raised awareness of the status and plight of the colonies, which at the time were subject to an uneasy compromise occupation between the Vichy French regime and the Japanese Empire.



Boucher's poster map is typical of his work. It is a large, extremely colourful stylised pictorial depiction of French Indochina, covering modern Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. There are no political borders within, rather emphasis is drawn to natural resources as well as flora and fauna which illustrated on the map. Major cities are marked and local inhabitants are seen planting, hunting, travelling and ploughing among other activities.



Boucher's map was extremely idealised, almost certainly at the bequest of the Association. However, it did become an iconic image for the effort to try to maintain French control of their Far Eastern colonies after World War II. This effort was successful in the short term but it would ultimately lead to the French defeat of Dien Bien Phu, which led to their chaotic withdrawal from the region in 1955. This created a vacuum which established this theatre as one of the main battlegrounds of the Cold War and led to the involvement of the United States in the region as they tried to prop up the southern State of Vietnam from 1965 onwards.



Despite its heavy use in later imagery, the original map is rare. The Association was fairly short lived, lasting around five years and its newsletter was published for only three of those. It seems to be the only piece that they commissioned by Boucher.

Laid down on linen. Printed colour. [SEAS5323]