Australian War Memorial Logo
Search

Donate Today

  • Collection Open Information Close Information
    • Official Histories & Unit Diaries
    • Understanding the Collection
    • Research at the Memorial
    • Donating to the Collection
    • National Collection Loans
    • Projects
  • People
  • Visit
  • Commemorate Open Information Close Information
    • Last Post Ceremony
    • Honour Rolls
    • Anzac Day
    • Remembrance Day
    • Customs & Ceremony
    • Speeches
  • Learn Open Information Close Information
    • Schools & Teachers
    • Memorial Articles
    • Encyclopedia
    • Understanding Military Structure
    • Podcasts
    • Glossary
    • Magazine
  • Get Involved Open Information Close Information
    • Donations & Bequests
    • Corporate Partnership
    • Employment Opportunities
    • Volunteer at the Memorial
    • Friends of the Memorial
    • eMemorial Newsletter
    • Grants, Scholarships & Residencies
    • Research Papers
  • Shop Open Information Close Information
    • Memorial Shop
    • Images, film and sound
    • Lone Pine Seedlings

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Visit
  3. Exhibitions
  4. Reality in flames

Main navigation

  • Other Exhibitions
  • Current Exhibitions
  • Past Exhibitions
  • Touring Exhibitions
  • Online Exhibitions

Reality in flames

Touring Exhibition

April 2014 to November 2020

​​​​​Modern Australian artists were immersed in the Second World War. They served in the armed forces, worked with labour groups or in factories, and as official artists observing, recording, and interpreting military activity.

Drawing on their immediate experiences, these men and women responded to the upheaval and anxiety of the period to create powerful imagery that explored all aspects of life during war. In particular, they were inspired to create modern and innovative visual forms to interpret the experience of combat, the powerfully destructive machinery of war, and the vast social upheaval produced by global conflict.

Russell Drysdale painting Soldier

Russell Drysdale (1912–1981), Soldier, 1942, oil on hardboard 60.3 x 40.7cm, ART92623

Reality in flames is the first exhibition dedicated exclusively to exploring how Australian modernist artists responded creatively to the Second World War. The exhibition consists of 84 works of art drawn from the Australian War Memorial’s collection; taken together, they constitute one of the most diverse and comprehensive collections of modern Australian art relating to war. Many were created through the official war art scheme, where artists were commissioned to record the experience of Australians fighting overseas or of home front wartime activity – a tradition that began during the First World War and continues today. The Memorial has continued to enhance its collection of works from this period through an active program of acquisitions and donations, and the collection is now one of the most diverse and comprehensive accounts of this period in Australian military, social and art history.

The exhibition includes work by leading artists such as Joy Hester, Nora Heysen, Frank Hinder, Roger Kemp, Sidney Nolan, Eric Thake, Albert Tucker, and Danila Vassilieff.

Tour dates

Gallery City State Start

Finish

Tamworth Regional Gallery Tamworth QLD 26 September 2020 22 November 2020
Australian War Memorial Canberra ACT 3 July 2015 6 July 2016
New England Regional Art Museum Armidale NSW 24 April 2014 13 July 2014
S.H Ervin Gallery Sydney NSW 7 March 2014 13 April 2014

A selection of works

Soldier, Russell Drysdale (1912–1981),1942 oil on hardboard, 60.3 x 40.7cm, ART92623

Soldier

Russell Drysdale (1912–1981),1942 oil on hardboard, 60.3 x 40.7cm, ART92623

Russell Drysdale’s Soldier (1942) is a crucial work in the exhibition, capturing as it does the disquieting mood of a nation at war. It was created at a time when there was great fear that Nazi Germany might triumph in Europe and when recent Japanese attacks on mainland Australia had sent shockwaves through the nation. Concerned about the Japanese raids on Sydney, Drysdale left the city and moved his family inland to Albury. Soldier is one of many works he completed that depicts the men he often saw waiting at Albury railway station, an important junction on the line between Melbourne and Sydney. The soldier’s heavy winter uniform and kitbag, and the dark lighting, help to convey a sense of isolation. He waits for a train to take him to his next posting, then possibly to a theatre of war.

View the artwork
Dennis Adams (1914–2001), 1944, oil on canvas, 42.8 x 30cm, acquired under official war art scheme in 1946, ART22962

Rear Gunner, Halifax

Dennis Adams (1914–2001), 1944, oil on canvas, 42.8 x 30cm, acquired under official war art scheme in 1946, ART22962

Official war artist Dennis Adams traveled through Britain and Europe to cover the Australians fighting there. Dennis Adams’s work repeatedly explores the many unfamiliar and highly dangerous roles people fulfilled during the war. Rear gunner, Halifax (1944), for instance, presents a man isolated in his gun turret at the back of a bomber aircraft, which would fly night-time missions at high altitude and for thousands of kilometers across Europe.

View the artwork
Sali Herman, 1945, oil on canvas on plywood, 45.5cm x 60.8cm, ART22838

Waiting room at Finschhafe

Sali Herman, 1945, oil on canvas on plywood, 45.5cm x 60.8cm, ART22838

Many other artists focused on the new foreign and cultural encounters experienced abroad and at home. Sali Herman, a refugee from Switzerland, became an Australian War Memorial official artist in 1945, covering the late stages of the war in the Asia–Pacific region. Like other artists and soldiers, he was struck by the diverse cultures encountered throughout the war. In Waiting room at Finschhafen he pictures one such scene, which he described as follows:

At that time [Finschhafen] was most likely one of the busiest airports in the world … Men came from everywhere and had to wait for further transport. Sitting and standing in the waiting room were Australians, Americans, and Negroes in an atmosphere of smoke, boredom and tiredness.

View the artwork
Sybil Craig (1901–1989), 1945, oil on artist’s board, 40.7 x 30.2cm, acquired under official war art scheme in 1945, ART23507

Girls working in the Container Production Room (Commonwealth explosives factory, Maribyrnong)

Sybil Craig (1901–1989), 1945, oil on artist’s board, 40.7 x 30.2cm, acquired under official war art scheme in 1945, ART23507

Sybil Craig was one of three female official war artists commissioned during the war. She covered the home-front production of munitions. Craig’s Girls working in the Container Production Room (Commonwealth explosives factory, Maribyrnong) (1945) depicts women absorbed in factory work. Their bodies work in harmony with the machines and they are shown as confident and in control, performing what was traditionally considered a man’s role. It is one of many works in this exhibition that explore the ways in which gender roles changed during the war.

View the artwork
Frank Hinder (1906–1992), 1949, egg tempera, oil glazes on gesso on hardboard, 59.5 x 49.1cm, ART26924

Bomber crash

Frank Hinder (1906–1992), 1949, egg tempera, oil glazes on gesso on hardboard, 59.5 x 49.1cm, ART26924

Frank Hinder’s painting Bomber crash (1949) also explores destruction, drawing on his firsthand experience of a plane crash whilst serving in the Australian Infantry Forces as a camouflage artist in 1940. Using an arrangement of futurist-inspired curvilinear forms, Hinder recreated the explosions, flames, and dark plumes of smoke that engulfed the crashed plane. Hinder wrote in his diary of this experience:

Roared up runway – seemed to take long time to get the tail up … getting close to end of field … lot of noise and racket, tried to protect head and face waiting for next bump and crash. Came to rest and flames shot up all round … Before door opened wondered what it would be like to be incinerated.

Reality in flames presents artists’ reactions to the dangers and challenges faced by soldiers abroad and to the complex changes war brought to the home front. It provides a rich visual commentary on the Second World War, while commemorating Australia’s contribution and the war’s enduring impact on our society.

View the artwork
Dore Hawthorne (1895–1977), 1945, oil on hardboard, 20.4 x 25.3cm, ART94129

Gauges and components

Dore Hawthorne (1895–1977), 1945, oil on hardboard, 20.4 x 25.3cm, ART94129

In the late 1920s Dore Hawthorne co-edited the Sydney based modernist literary and art journal Undergrowth: a magazine of youth and ideals. During the Second World War, however, her life became consumed by her work in the Small Arms Factory in Lithgow. Her painting Gauges and Components represents gun parts and factory objects related to the manufacture of Bren guns. It forms part of a series of forty works by Dore Hawthorne exhibited, in 1945, under the title Factory Folk, which depicts life and work at the factory with humour and sympathy. She painted the series under the pseudonym 'Brendorah', conflating her name and the gun that dominated her life.

View the artwork
Eric Thake (1904–1982), 1945, gouache, pencil on paper 55.5 x 78.2cm, ART26787

Kamiri searchlight

Eric Thake (1904–1982), 1945, gouache, pencil on paper 55.5 x 78.2cm, ART26787

Eric Thake, who had been working in a surrealist mode since the early 1930s, wrote of his experience in New Guinea as an official artist for the Royal Australian Air Force: “I’m seeing so much every day that is new and strange. I am seeing in minutes and hours and days more than I ever expected to see in my lifetime.” His Kamiri searchlight (1945) presents an anti-aircraft searchlight as a precise tool of war, set amongst an exotic costal setting, which was the backdrop to many battles in Southeast Asia.

View the artwork
Albert Tucker (1914–1999) Battlefield, 1942, charcoal and oil pastel on paper 13 x 18cm, ART94636

Battlefield

Albert Tucker (1914–1999) Battlefield, 1942, charcoal and oil pastel on paper 13 x 18cm, ART94636

In 1942, Albert Tucker served in the army for several months, and his many images from this period represent the military as bleak and dehumanizing.

View the artwork
Albert Tucker (1914–1999), 1943, watercolour, gouache and ink on paper 16 x 11cm, ART93996

Image of modern evil

Albert Tucker (1914–1999), 1943, watercolour, gouache and ink on paper 16 x 11cm, ART93996

In 1943 Albert Tucker started creating his Images of modern evil series. Through this work Tucker pictures a strident sexuality, real and imagined, played out in the blacked-out Melbourne streets. For the artist, this personal imagery symbolised social disintegration. Tucker believed there was nothing dignified in war and he felt compelled to create images that clearly presented this reality.

View the artwork
  • Portable Document FormatDownload Reality in flames education kit [2.3 MB PDF]

Last updated: 9 October 2024

1 The Donations and bequests

Donations & Bequests

Your generous donation will be used to ensure the memory of our Defence Forces and what they have done for us, and what they continue to do for our freedom remains – today and into the future.

Find out more
2 Visit Transcribe.awm.gov.au

Transcribe

Help preserve Australia's history by transcribing records from the National Collection. Enhance accessibility and discoverability for all Australians.

Find out more
The placesofpride

Places of Pride

Places of Pride, the National Register of War Memorials, is a new initiative designed to record the locations and photographs of every publicly accessible memorial across Australia.

Find out more
Visit the Australian War Memorial

Visit the Australian War Memorial

The Australian War Memorial is open for visitors as we work to expand our galleries. Entry is free and tickets are not required.

Find out more
Canberra Highlands in Grayscale

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF
TRADITIONAL CUSTODIANS

The Australian War Memorial acknowledges the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia. We recognise their continuing connection to land, sea and waters. We pay our respects to elders past and present.
Location map of The Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial building

The Australian War Memorial

Fairbairn Avenue
Campbell ACT 2612
Australia
View on Google Maps (opens in new window)
Google Map data ©2025 Google
Australian War Memorial Logo
  • Go to AWM Facebook
  • Go to AWM Trip Advisor
  • Go to AWM Instagram
  • Go to AWM Youtube

Footer

  • About
  • Contact
  • Venue Hire
  • Media
  • WM Magazine
  • Donate Today

The Australian War Memorial

Fairbairn Avenue

Campbell ACT 2612

Australia

 

Opening Hours

10 am to 4 pm daily (except Christmas Day)

 

In preparation for the daily Last Post Ceremony,

galleries are progressively closed from 3:40 pm.

 

Public entrance via Fairbairn Avenue, Campbell ACT 2612

Sign up to our newsletter

Subscribe

Legal

  • Copyright
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Accessibility
  • Freedom of information

Copyright 2025 Australian War Memorial, Canberra. All rights reserved