The face of Japan No. 1 (Japanese POW)

Depicts an unidentified Japanese prisoner of war working on reconstruction of Penfoei Airfield near Kupang, Timor. This drawing series by Thake depicts Japanese military and naval POWs who were employed reconditioning the roads and airstrip at Koepang. The artist drew these portraits as he felt a record was needed of the men against which the Australians fought. Eric Thake (1904-1982) was born in Melbourne and before the Second World War was apprenticed to a process engraving company and worked as a commercial artist during 1925 and 1926. He was a founding member of the Melbourne Contemporary Group in 1923 and the Contemporary Art Society in 1939. Thake enlisted in the RAAF in 1943 and worked as a draughtsman until his appointment to the RAAF Historical Section as a war artist in 1944. During the next two years he traveled to central and northern Australia, Timor and Dutch New Guinea. On the completion of his appointment, Thake's paintings and drawings were distributed amongst the Memorial, state art galleries and the RAAF. After the war Thake worked on a variety of commissions, including postage stamps and museum murals, and as a medical illustrator and designer.