Damn the War

The paintings produced during both Wars represented a new departure: the aim was no longer to produce eulogies to heroic military leaders and national triumph. Rather, artists sought to portray the impact of war on society as a whole, in battle and on the home front their body of work providing a unique portrait of a nation in bloody conflict and social upheaval. The artists of both Wars adapted and directed their work towards national needs, recognising the importance of recording as well as responding to the events and individuals around them, often taking huge risks to create their works. Some paid with their lives. Eric Ravilious, death in 1942 was one of the great tragedies of the War Artists schemes.
The pictures reproduced in this catalogue capture the breadth of experience of civilian and military life. the national mood at home and the contrasting and varied responses to the two World Wars. They also provide a fascinating cross-section of artistic practice during two of the most critical periods in twentieth-century British history.

Works Featured in this catalogue

Sold
Dean Cornwell (1892 - 1960)
Functions of Combat; Service of Supply, circa 1945
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Edward Halliday (1902 - 1984)
Altar (War and Peace), 1939
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Charles Cundall (1890 - 1971)
Study for Kipper at Kiel, c.1945
H. Scott Orr (1881 - 1972)
The Theatreland Raid, 13th October 1915
£12,000
Private
James Walker Tucker (1898 - 1972)
Letters from Home
Sold
Charles Pears (1873 - 1958)
The Mosquite and the Eagle: A Nazi seaplane drops a mine in the Fairway, circa 1941
Sold
Alfred Kingsley Lawrence (1893 - 1975)
Portrait of a Naval Officer
Barnett Freedman (1901 - 1958)
Two Vignettes, Design for Siegfried Sassoon’s Memoirs of an Infantry Officer c. 1931
£900
Sold
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
Gas Mask Drill (oval with sketch to top right), 1939
Lt Richard Barrett Talbot Kelly (1896 - 1971)
An RE8 with a French Nieuport 27 fighter escort, circa 1916
£12,000
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Harold M. Brett (1880 - 1955)
A Destroyer on a night time naval encounter, circa 1915
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Mary Adshead (1904 - 1995)
British Restaurant Coventry After Dinner, 1941
Private
John Edgar Platt (1886 - 1967)
St Anthonys Lighthouse, Falmouth, 1941
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Charles Pears (1873 - 1958)
Bristol Blenheim setting fire to German oil tanker, circa 1940
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Margaret Wrightson (1877 - 1976)
St George – the original maquette for Cramlington War Memorial, Northumberland, circa 1922
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Barnett Freedman (1901 - 1958)
Bomb Damaged Houses, Design for Siegfried Sassoon’s Memoirs of an Infantry Officer c. 1931
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Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
Street scene with children wearing gas masks, circa 1940
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Rudolf Sauter (1895 - 1977)
Phantom Eyre, 1944
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Bert Thomas (1883 - 1966)
Naval images of our Allies, circa 1914
Robert Randoll (1864 - 1952)
Searchlights over London Bridge, 1916
£2,750
Sold
Rudolf Sauter (1895 - 1977)
Soldier: Self-portrait of the Artist, 1939
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Olive Mudie-Cooke (1890 - 1925)
Unique presentation portfolio of fifteen lithographs, ‘With the VAD Convoys in France, Flanders, Italy’,
Leslie Carr (1885 - 1948)
Merchant Ships Tethered with Barrage Balloons, and a Dazzle Camouflage Destroyer
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Barnett Freedman (1901 - 1958)
Trench, Design for Siegfried Sassoon’s Memoirs of an Infantry Officer, c. 1931
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
Digs at Ambleside, c.1940
£2,650
Richard Carline (1896 - 1980)
Palestine
£3,250
Ira L. Hill (1877 - 1947)
Evangeline Booth – Salvation Army, circa 1919
£1,200
Private
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
Study at Sparsholt Farm Institute for A Land Girl and the Bail Bull, 1944 [HMO 40]
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Rudolf Sauter (1895 - 1977)
Soldier Holding a Gas Mask (believed to be a self-portrait), 1939
Isobel Atterbury Heath (1908 - 1989)
A Royal Navy Mine Sweeper in Dry Dock, circa 1940
£5,000
Sold
Ellis Martin (1881 - 1977)
Loading Shells
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Barnett Freedman (1901 - 1958)
The Sleeping Dead, Design for Siegfried Sassoon’s Memoirs of an Infantry Officer, c. 1931
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Anna Zinkeisen (1901 - 1976)
Lady Limericks Free Buffet for Soldiers and Sailors, circa 1918
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Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
Self-portrait, Ambleside, 1941
Robert Austin (1895 - 1973)
Springtime at Fulham, 1921
£3,850
Private
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
Singling Turnips, 1943
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Rudolf Sauter (1895 - 1977)
After the raid, circa 1940
Private
Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979)
Darling, what have you done with my battledress?, 1941
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Rudolf Sauter (1895 - 1977)
Searchlights along the Thames Estuary, October 1940
Private
Claude Francis Barry (1883 - 1970)
Peace Night, 1919
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Frank Potter (1885 - 1958)
Self-portrait as an Auxiliary Fireman, c.1941
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Charles Cundall (1890 - 1971)
Calm in the Baltic, 1935
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Ugo Matania (1888 - 1979)
Gunners passing burning buildings, illustration for The Sphere 26/5/1917
Private
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
Men Stooking and Girls Learning to Stook. 1940
Peter Laszlo Peri (1899 - 1967)
Blitz, 1944
£1,975
Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979)
Protective Covering
Hubert Arthur Finney (1905 - 1991)
A British Red Cross Society Volunteer 1941
£975
Sold
Alfred Kingsley Lawrence (1893 - 1975)
A Northumberland Fusilier, 1916
On Loan
John Cecil Stephenson (1889 - 1965)
The End of a Doodlebug, Hampstead Heath, 1945
Sold
Barbara Jones (1912 - 1978)
The Wind Tunnel – Royal Aircraft Establishment Farnborough, 1944
Private
Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Leaving the Munitions Works, 1919
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Charles Cundall (1890 - 1971)
Study for St Pauls Cathedral
Barnett Freedman (1901 - 1958)
15-inch Gun Turret, HMS Repulse, 1941
£975
Private
Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979)
The Parade Ground
On Loan
Hubert Arthur Finney (1905 - 1991)
A formation of Douglas A-20 Havocs, early 1940’s
Sold
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
Observation Post – Wrotham Hill, circa 1940
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Percy Jowett (1892 - 1955)
England, circa 1918
Peter Humphrey (1913 - 2001)
Bomb damaged houses, Coventry, circa 1942
£6,750
Private
Stanhope Alexander Forbes (1857 - 1947)
Shell Workers, 1918
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Charles Cundall (1890 - 1971)
Study for Tobermory from the Admirals Flagship, c.1942
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Isobel Atterbury Heath (1908 - 1989)
Woman operating a lathe turning the fuse tips of munitions, c.1944
Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979)
Trench Digging
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H. Scott Orr (1881 - 1972)
The Theatreland Raid, 13th October 1915 – a set of six albumen prints
Alan Sorrell (1904 - 1974)
May Morning, Putney Embankment, July 6th, 1939
£1,950
Sold
Margaret Wrightson (1877 - 1976)
Mechanic: Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps, 1917
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Alan Sorrell (1904 - 1974)
The Evening Signal, 1940
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Isobel Atterbury Heath (1908 - 1989)
Two women arc welding, ‘War 39-46’
Francis Spear (1902 - 1979)
Saint Michael Killing Satan
£2,500
Sold
Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979)
Left…rapid…fire!
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Phyllis Ginger (1907 - 2005)
Design for a Wedgwood Plate, circa 1944
Alan Sorrell (1904 - 1974)
Study for An Aerial View of a Wartime Airfield, circa 1942
£2,950
Sold
Victor Hume Moody (1896 - 1990)
The Day War Broke Out , Mom 1939
Pierre Abadie-Landel (1896 - 1972)
Les Joies du Poilu [The Pleasures of the Poilu], set of 6
£3,800
Sold
Phoebe Willetts-Dickinson (1917 - 1978)
Young woman in a beret, probably a Land Army girl, circa 1940
David Evans (1929 - 1988)
Air Escape, 1970
£6,500
Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979)
Portrait of a Soldier, circa 1940
£4,750
Sold
Flora Glover ((1919-1944))
Allegory of War, early 1940’s
Alan Sorrell (1904 - 1974)
Sketch for An Aerial View of a Wartime Airfield, circa 1944
£1,200
Kenneth Rowntree (1915 - 1997)
The British Restaurant at Acton, Middlesex, 1942
£7,850
Rene George Hermann-Paul (1864 - 1940)
Les Hymnes Allies, 1917
£1,100
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Auguste Gorguet (1862 - 1927)
Concordia
David Evans (1929 - 1988)
War in the Air
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John Moody (1906 - 1993)
Margaret Sewell, 1927
Alfred Kingsley Lawrence (1893 - 1975)
Still life with WW2 field instruments
£975
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Charles Cundall (1890 - 1971)
Study for Coastal Operational Training Unit (Limavady, Northern Ireland), circa 1942
Alan Sorrell (1904 - 1974)
Study for Watch Office, RAF Station, circa 1944
£2,900
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
Milking Practice with Artificial Udders, 1940
£100,000
Private
Keith Henderson (1883 - 1982)
France, 1917
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Ludovic-Rodolphe (RODO) Pissarro (1878 - 1952)
Back to the Land “Farming”
David Evans (1929 - 1988)
Fighting on the Ground
£4,200
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Christopher R.W. Nevinson (1889 - 1946)
Banking at 4000 Feet, 1917
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Arthur Edwards Hamish Milne (1888 - 1981)
The Weird Barrier, circa 1917
Private
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
Ambleside, View from the Library Roof, circa 1942
Alan Sorrell (1904 - 1974)
Study for Marching Gun Range and Rifle Range, RAF Station
£1,950
Sold
Barbara Jones (1912 - 1978)
Launching of the Holland Submarine No1. at Barrow 1901
Robert Randoll (1864 - 1952)
War Searchlights over London Bridge, circa 1915
£2,750
Ludovic-Rodolphe (RODO) Pissarro (1878 - 1952)
“Munitionnette”
£2,750
Sold
Ethel Leontine Gabain (1883 - 1950)
London Schoolgirls at Finnemore Wood – Camp Children in Wartime, 1940
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Frank Brangwyn (1867 - 1956)
Soldier Drinking Wine from a Bottle – Study for the Manitoba Legislative Building, Winnipeg, 1921
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William Farley (1891 - 1961)
Woodland Music, mid 1920’s
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Charles Cundall (1890 - 1971)
Lockheed Hudson, c.1942
Rudolf Sauter (1895 - 1977)
Study for The Phantom Eyre, circa 1940
£1,850
Sold
Barbara Jones (1912 - 1978)
Louis Bleriot flying the English Channel, 1909
Frederick Carter (1883 - 1967)
The Babe of Fire, circa 1915
£1,900
Henry Arthur Riley (1895 - 1966)
Me, 1940-42
£35,000
German observation balloons recording the position of the Allied forces on the Somme
£6,950
Frederick Carter (1883 - 1967)
Escape, circa 1915
£1,200
Sold
William Rothenstein (1872 - 1945)
Democracy and Tyranny, 1917
Private
Claude Francis Barry (1883 - 1970)
The Heart of the Empire: Our Finest Hour, 1940
Rudolf Sauter (1895 - 1977)
The Sinister Insect: The Dragon Fly, circa 1940
£2,350
Private
John Cecil Stephenson (1889 - 1965)
Looking towards Highbury, city of London on fire in background… night of april 16, 1941
Frederick Carter (1883 - 1967)
Silence in Heaven, 1925
£240
Sold
James Woodford (1893 - 1976)
Dawn Chorus, 1946-7
Forthcoming
Muirhead Bone (1876 - 1953)
First Worldwar soldier, full length profile
Alfred Kingsley Lawrence (1893 - 1975)
Sergt. Pilot J.C. McWilliams, 1942
£3,750
Sold
Charles Cundall (1890 - 1971)
The British Railways Carry On, 1941
Claude Francis Barry (1883 - 1970)
Monte Cassino, circa 1944
Frederick Austin (1902 - 1990)
An Allegory of War, 1939-1945
£3,300
Muirhead Bone (1876 - 1953)
Full size drawing for Winter Mine-Laying off Iceland, circa 1942
£19,500
Sold
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
Land Workers at Strood, c. 1938
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Ethel Leontine Gabain (1883 - 1950)
Captain Pauline Gower of the Womens Air Transport Auxiliary, circa 1940
Muirhead Bone (1876 - 1953)
Convoy, including a ship with dazzle camouflage
£1,000
Sold
Frank Brangwyn (1867 - 1956)
War Bonds 2 (Back Him Up, Buy War Bonds) W1930, circa 1918
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Barnett Freedman (1901 - 1958)
Night, c. 1931