Revealing Aspects of War from a Woman's Perspective

Evelyn Dunbar A Land Girl and the Bail Bull 1945

 I had a memorable time today at the private view of London's Imperial War Museum's new exhibition Women War Artists  here because it's a stunning show and I met up again with two of the contributors.   Linda Kitson was the official war artist in the Falklands Conflict (1982) in which my husband was involved and Rozanne Hawksley and I both grew up amongst the Royal Navy in Portsmouth.  More about both of them later.


Funny, except it isn't, how so many women artists get written out of art history or are simply undervalued.  Naturally I had heard of Laura Knight whom I wrote about here last year.  But others who documented both world wars were unknown to me.  Not only were they highly competent painters and illustrators but  they  had an unflinching and compassionate eye for what was going on in the margins of a nation at war - the hospitals, the factories,  the aftermath of bombing raids and the plight of the elderly, the children, the wounded and the prisoners.  

Norah Neilson-Gray The Scottish Women's Hospital: In The Cloister of the Abbaye at Royaumont. Dr Frances Ivens inspecting a French patient 1920

Doris Zinkeisen Human Laundry, Belsen: April 1945  1945  Each stall in the stable had a table on which the patients were washed by German prisoners before being treated in hospital

Stella Schmolle The Dough Room: Aldershot Command Bakery 1943

Ethel Gabain Sandbag Filling, Islington Borough Council 1941

Anna Airy A Shell Forge at a National projectile Factory, Hackney Marshes, London 1918

Priscilla Thornycroft Runaway Horse in an Air Raid Alarm 1939 - painted in 1955 it was an image that had stayed in the artist's mind

As you can see, the work in this exhibition is poignant, wry, shocking, resonant, relevant.  
Also featured are contemporary artists like Mona Hatoum whose mother was caught up in the conflict in Palestine and Frauke Eigen who deals with ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.  There is just too much powerful commentary and eye-witness for me to include, alas. Curated by Kathleen Palmer, her accompanying book is outstanding in the quality of the illustrations, the documentation and the analysis.


In 1982 when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands Linda Kitson  was commissioned to accompany the Task Force that sailed to regain them.  Although she was originally intended to disembark at Ascension Island she became the first woman artist to accompany troops throughout the campaign. Having met her, one can imagine her response to any man ordering her to pack up and retreat to a safer place.  She  produced many drawings like this which may appear provisional but exactly capture the immediacy, the drama and the detail of the moment.

Linda Kitson 2nd Battalion Scots Guards in the Sheep Sheds at Fitzroy, 17 June 1982  

 Linda Kitson Sir Galahad Moored at Fitzroy. She continued to burn until she was towed out to sea and sunk as a war grave. 16 June 1982

Linda Kitson 'The only important thing is to save is this portfolio of drawings please..' 1982

Incidentally, whilst at the Imperial War Museum today I was told this true story.  When Margaret Thatcher, who was Prime Minister during the Falklands War,  was introduced to an Argentinian general many years later, she simply said to him 'Don't do it again!' and walked away.

Finally, it was a treat to see Rozanne Hawksley  whom I had met on board HMS Belfast. The cruiser that had served in the Arctic convoys in World War II is moored in the Thames as an annex of the Imperial War Museum.  Hawksley's installation on the theme of memento mori with references to her grandmother's stitching of blue jean collars  resonated with me because like her I had grown up in the major naval port of Portsmouth and vividly remember the Guildhall Square packed with servicemen on Remembrance Sunday in the postwar era.  

 Rozanne Hawksley For Alice Hunter (her grandmother who sewed them)

 Rozanne Hawksley Memorial Wreath featuring the skull of a seagull, the traditional black Macclesfield silk square that was rolled into a tie round the sailor's collar and the cap tally

 Her iconic Pale Armistice 1991 in the collection of the Imperial War Museum and part of the Women War Artists exhibition.

Although Rozanne confessed to being 80 she is the most lively and engaging company. We somehow found ourselves drinking more wine than was really good for us at lunchtime. I staggered home on the no. 388  with three new books, some postcards and, unaccountably,

a not terribly small toy rabbit.  My old man told me I was worse than one of his sailors on a typical run ashore ..

Acknowledgment: the Imperial War Museum for all the illustrations.

The Roots of My Kitchen Culture

I am not a foodie, nor am I a particularly adventurous cook. I put it down to internalising the post-war austerity cuisine of my British childhood!  I am still drawn to labour-intensive recipes that involve stewing cheaper cuts of meat, pastry-making and milk puddings. However,  I don't use margarine and dried eggs nor dare I eat bread and dripping; and I've never had another toothpaste sandwich. To be fair to my mother, that wasn't her idea.


This moment of nostalgia was brought on by The Imperial War Museum's latest big exhibition The Ministry of Food running throughout 2010.  The Director of Research sums it up here better than I can and there's lots of information on the museum's website. I particularly like the bracing information film on how to dig for victory for beginners.

A recreation of a newly stocked wartime shop based on photographs from the Museum's archive.  

Rationing during the war applied to everyone, including the Royal Family.

Leonora K Green’s painting Coupons Required, 1941

Ooh a banana!  It's what everyone talks about not having during the war.  Spam and plenty of it, yes.  I wonder if the blue variety was even tastier? 

How chic is this?  Not if that's all you had maybe.






What's chintz got to do with it?

Jean Monro Hollyhock

Well, only that in the dark days of food shortages my mother was relieved to find two sacks of rice in the back of her store cupboard.  It made a lot of puddings (I doubt if she could buy the ingredients for curry) but it was originally intended for reglazing her chintz curtains. Now there's a thought..


All images courtesty of the Imperial War Museum except for the fabric which I pinched off  The House of Beauty and Culture blog. Many thanks.

The Heroic and The Unheroic

London's Imperial War Museum

I was lucky enough to attend The Sun newspaper’s Military  Awards, affectionately known as The Millies at the Imperial War Museum on Tuesday.  You could describe it as a mini Oscars ceremony for the heroes of our armed forces on active service, except that every one of the recipients who had put his or her life on the line neither wept nor postured on the podium. They all spoke articulately with impressive modesty and it was, if my smudged mascara was anything to go by, terribly moving. 

Princes William and Harry presented awards and showed they had inherited  the natural compassion of their mother, Diana, and the good humour of their father, Prince Charles.  There was an affecting moment when a bereaved mother laid her head on Harry’s chest and he responded by putting his head down towards hers and his arm round her shoulder.  Nothing fake about that.

You can read more about it all on The Sun's website here.

But it was not a mawkish occasion at all.  A host of famous actors, comedians, and icons of popular culture added glamour to the presence of men and women in uniform and there was a real buzz of excitement.  I myself had a teenage moment on being introduced to Alexander Armstrong of Brit comedy duo Armstrong & Miller. 

That man is so gorgeous, so amusing.  It’s lucky he hadn’t changed into his Royal Airforce uniform to do one of their signature sketches (World War II pilots speaking chippy street slang and claiming their human rights in the face of the enemy) or I might have not have been answerable for my actions.

At our table I sat next to a really charming man, Michael Ball, heart-throb singer and actor who has just finished starring in Hairspray.  I warmed to him instantly when he confessed to leading a mutiny in his school cadet force, which took the form of firing blanks at their commanding officer.  Not clever, not heroic, not funny.  Except it was, very.

 Cheeky.

 I hope my pals abroad will enjoy being introduced to Armstrong & Miller in one of their most famous sketches.  You can find more of this perfect juxtaposition of the heroic and the absurd on You Tube.

Images from top: http://www.london-se1.co.uk, http://www.digital-tv.co.uk, http://www.onenationmagazine.com, http://upload.wikimedia.org