New Zealander

Depicts a standing portrait of a New Zealand First World War soldier in uniform. Isobel (Iso) Rae (1860-1940) was a painter and attended the National Gallery School, Melbourne in 1877-78, where she learnt to paint figure subjects. in 1887 she moved with her family to France and lived at Etaples, an artist's colony near Brittany. During the First World War she was employed in the YMCA camp at Etaples, and quietly recorded the activities of the Etaples Army Base Camp. She worked for the Voluntary Aid Detachment of the British Cross (VAD) The camp was established by the British and was served by a network of railways, canals and roads connecting it to the southern and eastern fields of battle in France. Iso Rae became one of only two Australian women artists to document the war in France. Her works, including this one, depict the life of the camp and the different nationalities there.