ART30245 - The billy boy
Image copyright: © Australian War Memorial
- ID number
- ART30245
- Title
- The billy boy
- Artist
- Dobell, William
- Object type
- Painting
- Place made
- Australia: New South Wales, Rathmines
- Date made
- 1943
- Medium
- oil on cardboard on hardboard
- Measurement
- framed: 92 x 76 cm; unframed: 70.2 x 53.4 cm
- Collection
- Art
- Description
- A portrait of Irishman Joe Westcott, painted at the Rathmines air base during the Second World War.
Dobell wrote of his model:
"He was a Glasgow Irishman & his name was Joe Westcott. He was more interested in political argument than boiling the billy - which was his only job. Whenever we were waiting for our tea at morning or afternoon smoko, Joe, a dinkum bush lawyer, was trying to shout someone else down in an earbashing contest, and we often had to boil our own billy. I painted him at Rathmines Air Base, where I worked on camouflage with Joshua Smith and a lot of other artists."
Permalink: http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/ART30245
