Place | Europe: Germany |
---|---|
Accession Number | ART02423 |
Collection type | Art |
Measurement | sheet: 63.6 x 50.7 cm; image: 62.2 x 44.8 cm |
Object type | Work on paper |
Physical description | pen, brush and ink, pencil, wash on paper |
Place made | United Kingdom |
Date made | c 1916 |
Conflict |
First World War, 1914-1918 |
Copyright |
Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain This item is in the Public Domain |
[Prussian officer and man with air raid in progress]
Depicts a figure of a Prussian officer and a man, possibly the British Prime Minister, standing on top of a hill, with surprised expressions on their faces, while airplanes circle around them and overhead, during an air raid. From 1915, a number of Dyson's caricatures were published, characterised by his response to Germany's military monarchy. Using a figure loosely based on the Kaiser, Dyson identified the 'common enemy' and attacked it with vigour. When some of his anti-German cartoons were published in 1915, they were accompanied by the following foreword; 'Mr. Dyson...responds to all the fearful pressure of this war in cartoons. He perceives a militaristic monarchy and national pride a threat to the world, to civilisation, and all that he holds dear, and straightaway he sets about to slay it with his pencil...he turns his passionate gift against Berlin.' Will Dyson was the first Australian official war artist to visit the front during the First World War, travelling to France in December 1916, remaining there until May 1917, making records of the Australian involvement in the war. He was formally appointed as an official war artist, attached to the AIF, in May 1917, working in France and London throughout the war. His commission was terminated in March 1920.