Making sailors: boat-drill

Depicts six sailors standing on the deck of a ship and pulling on the ropes of a life boat. Another sailor stands in the life boat. This work is number 21 from the series of 66 lithographs 'The Great War: Britain's efforts and ideals' published by the British Ministry of Information, London, 1917. Frank Brangwyn (1867-1956) was not an official war artist, although he produced over 80 poster designs during the first World War. A large proportion of Brangwyn's work during this period was given free of charge to charitable groups, for example the Red Cross, National Institute for the Blind, and Belgian and Allied Aid League. He produced work for clients included the National War Savings Committee, the UERCL (Underground Electric Railways Company of London), and the United States Navy. Brangwyn also designed six recruiting posters for the 'Daily Chronicle' and was involved with the Ministry of Information's Britain's 'Efforts and Ideals of War', producing one design for Ideals ('The Freedom of the Seas') and a series of six for Efforts, entitled 'Making Sailors', of which this is one. These war works are among Brangwyn's most pictorial, with little decorative content.