Drive Thru (Lettow & Vorbeck’s)

A funny painting, this one. The story behind it: Lettow Vorbeck, general of the Imperial German Army during World War I. He commanded the German forces in the East Africa campaign. After the German defeat, he surrendered to the British, then he moved to Germany with some of his men. A detachment of his former army fought in the battle for Munich in 1919. One of his African soldiers had this photography portrait taken, and signed it with a dedication to his comrades as “a loyal East Africa fighter”. Read this painting as a mock Drive Thru sign, showing a blonde waitress passing a plate to that very same soldier. A cracked surface dates this sign to the ‘40s.