Gently Round the Corner Or Irene Returns

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Gently Round the Corner Or Irene Returns

Leslie Illingworth (1902-1979)

Price

£1,450

Signed

Signed
Inscribed with title below mount

Medium

Ink

Dimensions

13 ¼ x 10 ¾ inches

Illustrated

Punch, 31 July 1946, page 89

Exhibited

'The Illustrators: The British Art of Illustration 1806-2025', Chris Beetles Gallery, London, November 2025-January 2026, no 104

This cartoon was published two days after the start of the Paris Peace Conference, during which the Allied Powers of the United Kingdom, Soviet Union, United States and France negotiated the details of peace treaties with the former Axis allies, namely Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Finland.

Leslie Illingworth strikes a cautiously optimistic tone, suggesting a hope that lasting peace can be achieved, but that it will not be an easy negotiation, represented by the manoeuvring of the statue of ‘Irene’ (a play on Eirene, the Greek Goddess of Peace), around a tricky staircase. He depicts the representatives of the United Kingdom, Soviet Union, United States and France as those tasked with the difficult task. Those representatives were Ernest Bevin, the British Secretary of State; Viacheslav Molotov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union; Georges Bidault, Prime Minster of France and Chair of the Provisional Government of the French Republic; and James F Byrnes, the United States Secretary of State.

The result of the Conference, the Paris Peace Treaties, were signed on 10 February 1947 and came into effect on 15 September 1947. The Axis nations were allowed to fully resume their responsibilities as sovereign states, and included various war reparations, commitments to minority rights and territorial adjustments.

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