Gallipoli 1

Elwyn Lynn was a pioneering exponent of collage and abstraction in Australia and is best known for his "matter" paintings (influenced by the Spanish artist Antoni Tapies) in which he built up heavily textured surfaces into which are embedded hessian, rope and other objects, and for his cut and torn paper and found object collages on paper. At various times in his career Lynn addressed military and battle themes in his work and on several occasions turned to ANZAC Day and Gallipoli for inspiration. Lily Lynn, the artist's widow, recalls that Lynn had a very great respect for the original ANZAC troops and for ANZAC Day itself. This painting and a second Gallipoli work are mentioned in Lynn's diaries. This work was made on ANZAC Day 1984 and comments on the huge loss of life in a failed campaign; it comments on Australia's incongruous celebration of national identity through events in which so many Australians died. "Gallipoli I" is an abstract image built up from layers of red and crimson washes over yellow and brown. The top half is covered completely and the paint has been allowed to run and dribble down or splatter in the lower half. The effect is very much like a section of blood stained wall or floor where some violent incident has occurred. In his summation of the Gallipoli campaign C E W Bean wrote "In no unreal sense it was on the 25th of April, 1915, that the consciousness of Australian nationhood was born. ANZAC Day - a national celebration held on the anniversary of the Landing - is devoted to those who fell in the war". Bean noted that during the eight month campaign Australians' most intense feelings were centred upon ANZAC and that everyone in the country was tied to Gallipoli either by personal affection and interest or by new-born pride in their nation. He wrote that "the influence of the Gallipoli campaign upon the national life of Australia and New Zealand had been far too deep to fade" and that there were very few people of whom a near relative or close friend had not been killed or wounded. In the campaign the Australian forces suffered 26,094 casualties and the New Zealanders 7,571. Of the Australians 7,594 were killed, of the New Zealanders 2,431. Despite having been federated fourteen years earlier, Gallipoli has become a modern byword for the maturation of the Australian nation. Gallipoli can also be seen as the beginnings of the downfall of the Ottoman Empire and the gradual rise of modern Turkey under the leadership of Mustapha Kemal, the Turkish commander at Gallipoli (later known as Kemal Ataturk, the first President of Turkey).