| Places | |
|---|---|
| Accession Number | ART35183 |
| Collection type | Art |
| Measurement | Unframed: 61 x 51 cm |
| Object type | Painting |
| Physical description | oil on canvas |
| Maker |
Hawkins, Sheila |
| Place made | United Kingdom: England, Greater London, London |
| Date made | 1942 |
| Conflict |
Second World War, 1939-1945 |
| Copyright |
Item copyright: AWM Licensed copyright |
Squadron Leader Bruce Rose
Description
Unfinished portrait of Flight Lieutenant (later Wing Commander) Bruce Rose (270), DFC, No. 248 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force.
During the Second World War, Sheila Hawkins worked in the Public Relations branch of RAAF Headquarters in London, where she began painting this portrait of Flt. Lt. Rose. She was called suddenly to work in Secret Records for RAF Headquarters in Wales, and had to abandon the painting. When she finally returned to London, the makeshift studio, in which she started four portraits of Australian air men, had been dismantled. There was no sign of her work. In correspondence with the Australian War Memorial in the 1980s, Hawkins wrote that Flt. Lt. Rose had lost his leg when she met him, but that he retained tremdous humour about packing his "spare" in a long box, with which Hawkins recalled helping.