On the road to Flers, February 1917

Place Europe: France, Picardie, Somme, Albert Bapaume Area, Flers
Accession Number ART00134
Collection type Art
Measurement sheet: 39.8 x 72.2 cm; image: 39.8 x 72.2 cm
Object type Work on paper
Physical description watercolour and pencil on paper mounted on cardboard
Place made France: Picardie, Somme, Albert Bapaume Area, Flers
Date made 1917
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Depicts a war damaged landscape with the remains of a tank on the left near Flers on the Western Front in 1917. George Benson (1886-1960) was a painter and muralist who studied at the National Gallery School in Melbourne in 1903. He worked as an illustrator for the 'Bulletin' in Sydney and then as an illustrator and cartoonist for Melbourne 'Punch'. As a result of his drawings at Gallipoli and in France during the First World War, he was made an official war artist in 1918. He studied in London after the war, returning to Melbourne in 1919 to complete works for the AWM and spent the next decade painting watercolour landscapes and working as a book illustrator. He also served as a camouflage artist during the Second World War.