Identification disk

Place Middle East: Ottoman Empire, Turkey, Dardanelles, Gallipoli
Accession Number ART91209
Collection type Art
Measurement Overall: 30.4 x 25.4 cm
Object type Work on paper
Physical description coloured crayon with textile dye on coated paper
Maker Nolan, Sidney
Place made France: Paris
Date made 20 November 1957
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial
Creative Commons License This item is licensed under CC BY-NC
Description

Gallipoli male figure in striding pose, identity disc around neck, left leg missing and replaced with angled prop, representation of rifle in figure's left hand. Nolan stated that the stump leg derives from an antique statue which he saw supported by a prop in a museum in Delphi or Athens (from interview 13 April 1978). As a child Nolan saw these men who returned from the First World War with missing limbs and these statues of naked Greek heroes with their missing limbs would have bore a great resemblance. The upside down rifle is also a direct quotation from the 'Ned Kelly' paintings.