Respect for Culture

Depicts a figure of a seated German officer, pulling on his boots, in a hotel room. He turns to yell at a buxom woman who has a worried expression on her face as she flees towards the door and away from him. She has a band in her hair with the word 'KULTUR' on it. This work is number seventeen in a series of twenty cartoons Dyson published in 'Will Dyson's war cartoons' (1916). The caricature was also published in 'Kultur Cartoons' , London, 1915, with the following caption; 'PRUSSIA: (calling for his great-coat and his helmet): "Quicker, quicker, or must you feel my jackboot, you idle schwine face, you. Am I not going to cut der throats of Europe to show my respect for you?". 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.