Second World War Art

• HMS Glorious in the Arctic, 1940, by Eric Ravilious

  HMS Glorious in the Arctic, 1940, by Eric Ravilious

  Eric Ravilious became one of the War Artists Advisory Committee’s first official war artists in 1940. This watercolour is typical of Ravilious in the stylised simplicity of form, as well as in the use of texture and cross-hatching for both sky and sea.

• Convalescent Nurses Making Camouflage Nets, 1941, by Evelyn Dunbar

  Convalescent Nurses Making Camouflage Nets, 1941, by Evelyn Dunbar

  Evelyn Dunbar was commissioned to paint the experiences of the Women’s Land Army, the Auxiliary Territorial Service and the nursing services. Women adapting to unfamiliar tasks amidst the circumstances of war is a recurring theme in her paintings.

• Glass-blowers 'Gathering' from the Furnace, 1943, by Mervyn Peake

  Glass-blowers 'Gathering' from the Furnace, 1943, by Mervyn Peake

  Glass blowers are gathering molten glass as part of the production of cathode ray oscillation tubes. By 1943 7,000 tubes were being produced each week. Mervyn Peake was fascinated by the manufacturing process and by the balletic skills of the workforce.

• Southern England, 1944. Spitfires Attacking Flying-Bombs, by Thomas Monnington

  Southern England, 1944. Spitfires Attacking Flying-Bombs, by Thomas Monnington

  Before being employed as a war artist, Monnington had worked at the Directorate of Camouflage. In this painting, modern war machines fly through a scene taken from a Constable painting, relegating the countryside to a backdrop to their deathly conflict.

• Parachute Drop, 1943, by Henry Carr

  Parachute Drop, 1943, by Henry Carr

  Henry Carr painted scenes of London during the blackout and undertook official portrait commissions. Later employed as a war artist, he followed Allied forces through North Africa. This painting shows paratroopers in the process of landing in Algeria.

• VE-Day Celebrations Outside Buckingham Palace, 1945, by Leila Faithfull

  VE-Day Celebrations Outside Buckingham Palace, 1945, by Leila Faithfull

  Leila Faithfull was commissioned to paint WVS subjects in 1940. She later requested to travel to Italy, Egypt or Palestine but was declined. This work from 1945 shows civilians gathered under the trees outside Buckingham Palace, celebrating VE-Day.