Captain Wilkins operating a cinema machine, Hindenburg Line

Place Europe: France, Picardie, Aisne, Montbrehain
Accession Number ART09914
Collection type Art
Measurement sheet: 43.2 x 29.8 cm; image: 40.2 x 29.7 cm
Object type Work on paper
Physical description black crayon and pencil on buff paper
Place made France: Picardie, Aisne, Montbrehain
Date made October 1918
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Depicts Captain George Hubert Wilkins, official war photographer, viewed from behind, standing in a war damaged landscape behind a cinema camera, near the Hindenberg Line in France. Dyson noted that this drawing of Wilkins was sketched in a shell hole in the early morning of the day of the last Australian attack on the Hindenberg Line, which likely means 5 October 1918, the Battle of Montbrehain, the last infantry action of the AIF in the First World War.

Will Dyson was the first Australian official war artist to visit the front during the First World War, travelling to France in December 1916, remaining there until May 1917, making records of the Australian involvement in the war. He was formally appointed as an official war artist, attached to the AIF, in May 1917, working in France and London throughout the war. His commission was terminated in March 1920.