Not titled [Dustcover for scrapbook]

Accession Number ART03605.001
Collection type Art
Measurement Overall: 48.3 x 76 cm; sheet: 22 x 22.5 cm
Object type Work on paper
Physical description watercolour and pencil on paper
Date made 1914 - 1918
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial
Creative Commons License This item is licensed under CC BY-NC
Description

Dust cover for scrapbook, depicting a war artist (likely to be Benson himself) in uniform sitting in what looks like a bomb crater, sketching a wounded or dead soldier on a drawing pad. The nonchalance of the artist pictured is amplified by the cigarette in his mouth, as one hand draws while the other supports his sketch pad. The artist's colour patch is visible on his left arm, that of the 4th Division Artillery. The wounded German soldier wears a faded blue uniform, his steel helmet lain beside him. Blood seeps from the bayonet rifle still in his chest. He lifts his head and gawks at the artist, tears roll down the side of his cheek almost in disbelief at the artist's detachment. The terrain around the two is brown and muddy suggesting the illustration depicts the Western Front.