ART02210 - Dead beat, the tunnel, Hill 60
Image copyright: © Australian War Memorial
- ID number
- ART02210
- Title
- Dead beat, the tunnel, Hill 60
- Artist
- Dyson, Will
- Object type
- Drawing
- Place made
- Western Front: Western Front (Belgium), Ypres Area, Ypres
- Date made
- 1917
- Medium
- brush and ink, charcoal on paper
- Measurement
- sheet: 50.2 x 44.8 cm; image: 49 x 43.8 cm
- Collection
- Art
- Description
- Depicts an exhausted Australian soldier wearing full kit and greatcoat, sleeping in a tunnel during the Third Battle of Ypres. Indistinct figures of two other soldiers seen in the background. Dyson, appointed the first Australian official war artist in 1917, had no illusions about war. He declared: 'I never drew a single line except to show war as the filthy business that it was'. In this drawing his empathy with the weary soldier is keenly communicated. Will Dyson was the first Australian artist to visit the front during the First World War, travelling to France in December 1916, remaining there until May 1917, making records of the Australian involvement in the war. He was appointed an Official War Artist, attached to the AIF, in May 1917, working in France and London throughout the war. His commission was terminated in March 1920.
Permalink: http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/ART02210
