| Place | Europe: United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Accession Number | ART19568 |
| Collection type | Art |
| Measurement | Overall: 45.5 cm x 22.5 cm x 12 cm; Overall - Conservation: 500 mm x 230 mm x 185 mm |
| Object type | Sculpture |
| Physical description | plaster; edition: 2/2 |
| Maker |
Sheridan, Clare |
| Place made | United Kingdom: England, Greater London, London |
| Date made | 1917 |
| Conflict |
First World War, 1914-1918 |
| Copyright |
Item copyright: AWM Licensed copyright |
Woman leading blind soldier
Description
This plaster statue of a woman leading a blind Australian soldier in uniform is an endearing image of war life in London. The piece was made in London at St Dunstan's Hospital for the Blind, as a commission from the Imperial War Museum (who still hold the original, painted version). The artist, Clare Sheridan recollected crying as she sculpted the blind soldier, finding him "beautiful and resigned and patient". The soldier is Trooper Ernest Charles Matheson, who enlisted in the 9th Light Horse in South Australia in 1914.
The work is intensely maternal and gentle. Sheridan had lost her own husband in the Great War, as well as a child not long after its birth. She found solace and strength in the physically taxing genre of sculpture.