Shared Experience: Edward Bawden RA (1903–1989)
Art and War
A painter, illustrator and designer before the war, Bawden was an official artist with the BEF before being sent to the Middle East. On his way back to Britain in 1942, the ship was torpedoed and Bawden spent two months in a camp outside Casablanca, Morocco, before being liberated by the Americans. He returned to the Middle East in 1943, travelling from Iraq to Kurdistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and, finally, Italy.