Muirhead Bone was a well-established draughtsman and etcher when he became the first official war artist in July 1916. Bone was intended as a one-off appointment to provide further illustrations for publications like the War Pictorial.
Bone arrived in France on 16 August 1916 at the height of the Somme offensive. He was made an honorary Second Lieutenant and provided with a car, giving him easier access to the battlefields. He toured the Somme battlefields in the south – Maricourt, Fricourt, Montauban, Mametz Wood, Contalmaison, Trônes Wood, High Wood, Delville Wood and Pozières. He worked quickly in pencil, pen, charcoal and chalk and by 6 October had sent home approximately 150 finished drawings. He recorded mostly life behind the lines illustrating the settings for war rather than battle scenes – the work of the medical services, encampments, soldiers of duty, soldiers marching, landscapes and ruined towns.
'I did not like to imagine war scenes & so only drew what I saw & then only when I had a chance to draw it … I am afraid [this] resulted in rather prosaic work.'
The detail and accuracy of Bone’s drawings provided an authentic, eyewitness record of the immense logistic efforts of the Somme, one that proved immensely popular and resulted in more artists being commissioned. Bone returned to England in December 1916.
