Leonard Baskin

I've had a look at the work by Leonard Baskin, particularly his collaborative work with the poet Ted Hughes. I really like the style of the bird drawings, especially the fine use of black line to provide detailing of the feathers. Here is the page of the animalarium blog I was looking at.

http://theanimalarium.blogspot.com/2010/03/blog-post.html

Mervyn Peake - RAF drawings

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?filter%5BagentString%5D%5B0%5D=%22Royal%20Air%20Force%22&filter%5BplaceString%5D%5B0%5D=%22Sussex%2C%20England%2C%20UK%22&query=

My tutor has also told me about the RAF drawings which Mervyn Peake did as an Official War Artist. I did a search to see what they were like. From the short search I did, I found some interesting examples on the 'Imperial War Museums' website. The link above takes you to the page I was looking at.

Making History - Art and Documentary in Britain from 1929 to Now

This book is about the making of documentary film and the impact of it on British artists during the twentieth century. It does include the work of Grierson, refered to as "the father of British documentary".  This book may be useful in gathering information about the subject of documentary film.

However, at this point in my research, I am beginning to develop a narrower pathway in what interests me in this essay topic. I think I would like to specialize more in the paintings and drawings (and possibly propaganda posters) in my essay, rather than the development of film documentation. Regardless, I am going to keep a record of everything I am looking at in case there is a new development in my thinking.

Graham Sutherland - The Wartime Drawings

I managed to get this book out of the library which I refered to earlier on in my blog. One of the first chapters gives a description of the brutality of the German bombing raids on Britain during the Second World War. This description will help to to get a sense of what the home front was really like and what the Official War Artists, such as Sutherland, had to respond to.

After this piece of writing, it goes into detail about Sutherland's contribution as a War Artist and what he did during this period of history. As well as this, there is also a huge range of pieces of art that Sutherland produced. When I looked through them, there was one image I was particualrly drawn to. It is called, "Devastation: City, East End Street" 1941. I find the use of extremely dark shades and the shadows of the piece demonstrates the destruction of the war and the mood of the scene very effectively.

This piece has given me a reminder of the fact that War Artists on the home front were not just recording the peace and tranquilty of which Britain was fighting to protect, such as the "Recording Britain" scheme, but they were also recording the terrible destruction of the bombing by German aircraft. This is another contrast in working style that I could refer to in my essay.

Paul Nash - futher research

These links provide an interesting addition to the research of this artist. If I choose to write about this artist, then this information will be useful.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/wars_conflict/art/act_art.shtml

This video provides an explanation for the concept of one of Paul Nash's most famous paintings, "Battle of Britain" (at the imperial war museum, London). This video also mentions the aims of the British government in war propaganda. They wanted to represent the British values in the imagery and to show how Britain was fighting to protect them. They wanted this message to get through to a wider audience. This idea links directly back to my essay title and so this video may prove to be very relevant.

Paul Nash

Paul Nash was an official war artist during both World Wars and this article I have found gives an interesting insight into his life and the struggles he had to deal with. It provides an explanation as to how his childhood and adult experiences shaped his techniques and style in his artwork.

http://www.tate.org.uk/magazine/issue6/nash.htm

Eric Ravilious

Eric Ravilious was also an Official War Artist and in this first bit of research about him I found this quote from this guardian article.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/30/eric-ravilious-painting-landscape-watercolour

 "Even when he became an official war artist, he tended to domesticate any novelty or threat – fighter planes line up harmlessly beyond a garden hedge, and barrage balloons bob cheerfully in the sky"