Beach at Morotai

Place Asia: Netherlands East Indies, Halmahera Island, Morotai Island
Accession Number ART23221
Collection type Art
Measurement Overall: 37.9 x 40.8 cm
Object type Work on paper
Physical description pen and brush and ink on paper
Maker Friend, Donald
Place made Netherlands East Indies: Halmahera Island, Morotai Island
Date made 1945
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Depicts a group of unidentified Australian soldiers on beach using a civilian canoe, Halmacheras Islands, Netherlands, East Indies. In 1942, Donald Friend enlisting with the AIF, was posted as a gunner to the artillery unit near Albury. In 1945, Friend was selected for appointment as official war artist. He travelled to Morotai, Labuan and Balikpapan, recording sights which confronted him and drawing in particular on the expressive potential of human form. Friend was extraordinarily prolific, producing 53 paintings and 143 drawings for the Memorial. Friend arrived in Morotai on 27 May 1945 and noted 'Down to the sea in a jeep, and a bloody awful sweating struggle to get my gear aboard...I made some sketches'.

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