Broken faces: reconstructive surgery during and after the Great War

Amongst the most terrifying injuries experienced by the soldiers during the First World War (1914–1918) were facial wounds. The French Medical Corps took photographic portraits of these wounded men, the so-called gueules cassées, with a view to conducting reconstructive surgery. However, other groups were quick to use the images they produced for their own political, social or artistic purposes. These photographs then, with their many meanings, capture the diversity of attitudes towards the Great War in its aftermath.