The Memorial is pleased to highlight artists represented in our National Collection who, like Napier Waller, promoted the healing potential of art or explored the impact service has on the individual.
Please visit the Napier Waller Art Prize page for more information about the Art Prize.
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Well-known Australian artist Arthur Boyd (1920 – 1999) answered the call for conscription and enlisted with the Australian Army in 1939. He spent several months transferring between units, before being assigned to the army’s Cartographic Headquarters in December 1941. He served with the unit until 1944.
Although Boyd did not serve on the front line, his life and artistic practice was influenced by the Second World War and the Vietnam War. Boyd’s artwork comments on the psychological legacy of conflict and the torment of war that includes expressionistic images of human dislocation and suffering.
Images: Albert Tucker, Arthur Boyd in uniform, 1941, The National Library of Australia, PIC/3161/10 LOC Drawer PIC/3161 / Arthur Boyd, [an old Soldier with skull], print, ART96816
Artist John Perceval (1923- 2000) enlisted with the Australian Army in 1941 and although medically unfit for military duty, served with the Army Survey Corps where he used his drawing skills as a draughtsman. During the war years he exhibited paintings that spoke out against the immense slaughter of human life and the distortion of social relations that developed as a result of warfare.
‘Listening Angel’ from the Memorial’s collection reflects on the Korean War and the post-atomic age and was created in response to that conflict. It is part of a group of ceramic sculptures Perceval began creating in 1957. Informed in part by his military service, his awareness of the Korean War and by fears of an impending atomic war, these ‘angels’ are concerned with good and evil, and hope for a better future.
Image: John Perceval, ‘Listening angel,’ glazed ceramic,32.5 x 22.7 x 20.9 cm, ART90099
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Sidney Nolan (1917 – 1992) was one of Australia’s most complex, innovative, and prolific artists. He was mobilised for full time duty with the Australian Army in 1942, and served mainly in the Western and Wimmera districts of Victoria. An accident in August of 1943 saw two fingertips on his left hand amputated after they were badly crushed. He was discharged in absentia for misconduct in June 1946.
In 1978, Nolan presented to the Memorial the ‘Gallipoli’ series, a collection of 252 artworks (16 paintings and 236 drawings) in memory of his brother Raymond. It is one of the largest single donations in the Memorial’s history. Raymond John Nolan died in July 1945 having accidentally drowned on his return from military service at the end of the Second World War.
Sidney Nolan’s ‘Gallipoli’ series features lifeless floating figures that relate to the drowning of his brother, but most importantly features landscapes and the experiences of humans amongst them during times of war.
Images: ‘Informal portrait of artist Sidney Nolan, aged 72, photograph, P04607.001 / Sidney Nolan, ‘Soldiers’, polyvinyl acetate on hardboard, 122 x 152 cm, ART19579
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Artist Frank Hinder (1906 – 1992) is remembered for being a pioneer of abstract art in Australia and also for the contributions he made to Australia’s war effort during the Second World War. He first served as a lieutenant from 1941-43 then as a member of Will Dakin’s Camouflage Unit with the Department of Home Security. Hinder was honoured for his 'Hinder Spider', a unique frame he invented to support camouflage nets over guns.
After the war, Hinder took up work as a commercial artist. This sketch, ‘CRTS Student 1948’ refers to the Commonwealth Reconstructive Training Scheme, an important educational and vocational government initiative, introduced in March 1944. There were three categories of training - professional, vocational or rural - and it is interesting that visual art was regarded as a skill worth fostering in ex-servicemen and women as they prepared to reintegrate in civilian life.
This simple sketch by Hinder was made at the National Art School in Sydney, where the artist taught between 1946 and 1958.
Images: Frank Hinder, ‘CRTS Student 1948’, pencil on paper, 15 x 16 cm, AWM2016.779.1 / Frank Hinder, ‘Frank Hinder standing with a part of his tree dome, photograph, P06133.045.
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While serving in the Vietnam War, an exploding Claymore anti-personnel mine ended Trevor Lyon’s life as a soldier and left him with severe facial and eye injuries for which he had to undergo major reconstructive surgery.
This work, part of a series titled ‘Journeys in my head’, is a powerful example of the physical aftermath of war and reflects on the horrific memories Lyon’s has of his Vietnam War experiences. Apart from his injuries, the artist was deeply affected by what he saw in Vietnam: the constant killing of innocent women and children, the spraying of Agent Orange and the incessant bombing.
This portrait reveals a dual approach to portraiture, of a representation of the physical damaged self, but also the emotional turmoil of the inner self, of a mind plagued by foul memories of the horrors Lyons witnessed during the war.
Images: Trevor Lyons, ‘Journeys in my head: 6th state,’ etching, aquatint on paper, 56.2 x 38 cm, ART45090 / Platoon Commander Lieutenant Trevor Lyons of Bundaberg, Qld (right), is briefed by the Officer Commanding A Company, 2RAR /NZ (ANZAC) Major Peter White of Kenmore, Qld.
