Place | Europe: France, Picardie, Somme, Albert Bapaume Area, Bapaume |
---|---|
Accession Number | ART28848 |
Collection type | Art |
Measurement | sight: 12.9 x 20.1 cm |
Object type | Work on paper |
Physical description | pen and ink with crayon and wash on paper |
Maker |
Wilson, Eric |
Place made | France |
Date made | 1939 |
Conflict |
First World War, 1914-1918 |
Copyright |
Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain This item is in the Public Domain |
St Nien from Bapaume, France
A landscape view across the countryside of northern France, near Bapaume. Bapaume was used as an objective by both the German and Allied forces at different times during the First World War.
After being awarded a Travelling Art scholarship in 1937, Eric Wilson studied in Europe for several years. In 1939, in the months preceding the beginning of the Second World War, he travelled to northern France and spent time in the Somme region. During the First World War, this region had been the site of the Battle of Mont St. Quentin, between the Australian 2nd Division and German forces, and was a strategic victory for Australia and the Allies. Many of Wilson's sketches from the area feature overgrown trenches, abandoned weapons and the Australian Memorial, there to commemorate the battles fought there.