Catalina taking off

Place Oceania: Australia, New South Wales, Sydney
Accession Number ART22339
Collection type Art
Measurement Overall: 60.9 x 50.8 cm
Object type Painting
Physical description oil on canvas
Maker Adams, Dennis
Place made Australia: New South Wales, Sydney
Date made 1943
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Consolidated Catalina flying boat taking off on a patrol which may mean twenty hours or more in the air over enemy territory.

In a letter to Lieutenant Colonel John Treloar - Officer in Charge of the Military History Section and administrator of the official war art scheme - dated 2nd August 1943, Denis Adams wrote about this painting:
'The painting of the "Catalina" taking off is one I have been keen to paint for a long time. It was done after carefully studying their wave formations and from a sketch I did on the shipway at Rathmines. In this also I have endeavoured to capture the movement and vibration and roar of the motors just before the flying boat becomes airborne.'