Shared Experience: Early Morning P.T.

Art and War

E.J. Hughes
Early Morning P.T.
oil on canvas
76.0 x 101.5cm
CWM 19710261-3174

Based on sketches completed in Petawawa, Ontario, in 1940, the painting was preceded by an approximately half-size, highly-worked pencil cartoon (held by the Art Gallery of Vancouver). In a 1979 interview, Hughes recalled his war service as an official artist:

I was working day and night. In fact sometimes I was working so hard I was wishing that I was a combat soldier … they at least had a lot of time off to rest … I had no time to rest. As soon as I woke up in the morning, I had to be looking for subject matter continuously … until dark.