Strazeele - near Armentieres

Accession Number ART93194
Collection type Art
Measurement Overall: 39.7 x 20.6 cm
Object type Work on paper
Physical description watercolour on paper on cardboard
Maker Waller, Napier
Place made France: Nord Pas de Calais, Nord, Strazeele
Date made c.1917
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright

Item copyright: AWM Licensed copyright

Description

Strazeele, the town depicted in this landscape, is of significance to Australian soldiers. Located in French Flanders, west of Armentieres, it was known to Australians throughout the war when, for most of the time, it was close behind the front-line. Waller saw active service in France, serving with the 111th Howitzer Battery, 4th Division, AIF. He took part in a number of battles on the front line before being severely wounded in May 1917 at Bullecourt. Strazeele, is also mentioned several times in Waller's diary, where he (rather poetically) describes viewing the colours of sunrise and sunset over the landscape and town. The distinctive shape of the skyline in the distance, the careful blending and bleeding of the strong painterly colours seem to reflect his brief written observations in his diary of the town. The sky has dark blue clouds, while the section above the town skyline is a warm yellow with touches of pink. The foreground of the work is mottled brown and yellow, a desecrated and barren scene save a few scraggly bushes and leafless trees. Although a small watercolour, in this vista Waller has captured the effect of war and weather on a seemingly unpopulated town.

Related information