Nach Hermannstadt [After Hermannstadt]

This drawing was completed by Theo Scharf while living in Munich, and is a response to a significant period of social, cultural and political upheaval.

The young Australian-born artist responded to significant events of the First World War for Germany with numerous drawings in various media. One such surviving drawing is 'Nach Hermannstadt', which depicts a group of Romanian prisoners-of-war marching in the cold at night, following the decisive victory over the Romanian forces at the Transylvanian Front at the Battle of Hermannstadt in September 1916 by the Bavarian Alpine Corps.

Scharf’s interests and talents aligned him with Australian artists who contributed similar work to the Bulletin, such as Will Dyson and Norman and Lionel Lindsay. He was aware of these artists, as well as German and British artists and illustrators of the time. 'Nach Hermannstadt' is typical of the expressive style Sharf employed in his illustrations for publication. In this pen and ink drawing shadowy figures emerge from the darkness into shafts of lamplight illuminating the soldiers in the foreground. This graphic technique of concealment and disclosure through the use of stark contrasts of light and dark is one which Scharf, at the age of seventeen, employed with confidence and flair. It is a technique he used in his illustrative work throughout the following decades.