My article “Flour sacks. The art of charity” has been published in the 2020 Yearbook of the In Flanders Fields Museum, Ypres!
In the summer of 2019, I conducted research into the decorated WWI flour sacks in the museum’s collection*). One of my ‘sack trips’ took me to Ypres, where I examined the American and Canadian flour sacks for a week thanks to a grant from the Koen Koch Foundation. The museum possesses 23 original flour sacks, eight of those have been included in Flanders’ List of Masterpieces as unique heritage items.
In my article, I report in word and image on my discoveries and give historical context to the Ypres collection of flour sacks. The following topics are discussed: the supply of food to Belgium; the US charities with a graph of contributions by state; Madame Lalla Vandervelde, her journey through America and successful appeal for aid to the Belgians; examples of the Belgian charities with an infographic showing dozens of sales exhibitions of flour sacks held between 1915-1925; girls’ education in vocational schools with unique photos of their lessons; German censorship on decorated flour sacks.
My conclusion is: decorated WWI flour sacks are the symbol of the many charities run and supported by Belgian women and girls during the German occupation, besides the symbol of international food aid and Belgian gratitude.
Here is the link to the article: “Flour sacks. The art of charity.”
The IFFM Yearbook 2020 is beautifully designed by Manu Veracx. The original Dutch article with 17 color and 7 black and white illustrations, is fully translated in English by Marc Hutsebaut; it covers 9 pages. You can order the IFFM Yearbook 2020 through the webshop of the museum.
*) Marc Dejonckheere interviewed me for VIFF Magazine, magazine of The Friends of the In Flanders Fields Museum; “The emotions of the flour sack” was published in September 2019.
ADDITION 2023/2024
Two flour sacks with frame, Art Nouveau artworks, were bought at auction and included in the collection. You can read it in the blog: Art Nouveau kunstwerken voor Mariette en Louisa Van Brussel (Art Nouveau artworks for Mariette and Louisa Van Brussel.)
ADDITION December 2024
Social media message of the In Flanders Fields Museum, December 30, 2024
𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞.
“The De Borchgrave family from Anzegem, Belgium, collected and preserved ((un)processed) flour sacks from the WWI war period in recent years. They recently donated them to the museum. Three of them are beautifully embroidered and two have a Ghent connection. One of them has a nice Christmas message! “𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞.””
This is an extraordinary addition to the existing collection of IFFM.
The photos show that the private collector has been exceptionally careful in preserving these processed and unprocessed flour sacks, originating from the American state of Kansas.
And now that the flour sacks have been transferred to the public collection, Belgian heritage is once again in good hands: ‘Flour. The Art of Charity’!
