Artist Profiles

Charles Bryant
1883-1937

ART00171 Charles Bryant
Hospital ships, le Havre AWM ART00171

Charles Bryant began his term as an official war artist on 12 December 1917, travelling to Messines in Belgium in December and to the Western Front in France in early 1918. Bryant's appointment was particularly influenced by his reputation as a marine painter. He was attached to the 2nd Division AIF as a lieutenant and requested to illustrate the embarkation and disembarkation of Australian troops at Le Havre and Boulogne, and any other port from which Australians troops arrived and departed. In several paintings, he showed the camouflaged hospital ships docked in these busy ports waiting to transport the seriously wounded back to England. Hospital ships, Le Havre (ART00171).

Bryant studied art in Sydney and London; he exhibited his paintings at the Royal Academy and in the Paris Salons. From quite early in his career he was interested in painting coastal scenes and worked in Brittany and England. During his appointment as an official war artist, he concentrated on painting naval subjects in England, France, the North Sea and the English Channel.

As an official war artist skilled in painting marine subjects, Bryant was commissioned to paint the American fleet entering Sydney Harbour for presentation to the President of the United States of America. He was also commissioned to paint the departure of the first contingent of the AIF and the New Zealand Expeditionary Force overseas in 1914: First convoy at sea (ART00190). Leaving from King George's Sound in Albany, Western Australia on 1 November 1914, the fleet, carrying 30,000 men and 12,000 horses, was escorted from the sound by four warships, including HMAS Sydney.

ART03643
Charles Bryant
Rabaul AWM ART03643

In 1923, he was commissioned by the Commonwealth Government to paint works relating to the 1914 occupation of German New Guinea by Australian troops. Based in the coastal town of Rabaul, Bryant produced numerous intimate colourful images of the region, which clearly show the presence of the Commonwealth - with buildings, churches and ceremonies - yet retain a strong sense of the serene atmosphere of sea and shore (ART03643).