Ronald Searle: To the Kwai and back

"Ronald Searle: To the Kwai and Back. War Drawings from 1939 - 1945" is a book contains the drawing that Searle did during his time as a prisoner of war in Singapore. The drawings act as a visual documentation of the horrid conditions in the camp. I have recently bought this book as it looks so fascinating as a first hand account of the war, which makes it a very different approach to published propaganda posters.

First line of the book: "These pictures were not drawn with brushes made from human hair nor with blood replacing ink, as has been occasionally recounted. But they were made with sweat, fear and, at the outset at least, wide-eyed noble intent."

This quote demonstrates how real the experience is of these War Artists and the bravery that is involved to record the war visually first hand.

A Word From the Artist: "During my captivity I had, in a somewhat unimaginative and already ambitious way, convinced myself that my mission was to emerge from the various camps, the jungle and finally prison, with a 'significant' pictorial record that would reveal to the world something of what happened during the lost and more or less unphotographed years"