In addition to the large donation of drawings and engravings made to the museum in 1972, the artist also gave the museum a series of illustrated press cuttings. For Delpech, these constituted a precious documentary source that he used to nourish his work. Delpech was a voracious reader who actively followed the news during the conflict, keeping abreast of technical innovations in military equipment. Although it is difficult to date precisely the various press cuttings that make up this documentary file, handwritten references by the artist himself date some of the images from 1940, while the back of the image depicting the ‘Goliath’, a remote-controlled tracked vehicle, refers to the actress Andrée Spinelly, who had appeared the previous year in the show L'Ecole des cocottes, which makes it possible to date this piece of newspaper from 1944. This indicates that, throughout the war, the artist methodically recorded articles in order to build up a graphic ‘repertoire’ to refine and enrich his work. However, when we look at the documentary file, we can see that Delpech did not simply copy motifs seen in the press. He sees photography as a possible source of inspiration, but always favours direct observation and reinterprets what he observes by changing perspectives and angles. 

The documentary file and works by Jean Delpech can be viewed in the Reserve Room, by appointment only, by email to : contact.jeandelpech@musee-armee.fr