Masaryk University

Faculty of Arts

Department of the History of Arts

History of Arts

Bc. Martin Fiala

Master’s Diploma Thesis

THE ‘ART RAID’ ON BRITAIN:

THE DEPICTION OF HEROISM IN BRITISH ARTS 1939-1945

Thesis coordinator: doc. PhDr. Ladislav Kesner, Ph. D.

Brno

2019

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Declaration:

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

Brno, April 30th, 2019

Martin Fiala (428358)

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Acknowledgments:

I would first and foremost like to thank my thesis coordinator, doc. PhDr. Ladislav Kesner, Ph. D., for his guidance, valuable notes throughout the entire process of research and writing of this diploma thesis and for his constant availability whenever I needed to discuss something.

I would also like to thank PhDr. Aleš Filip, Ph.D. and František Mikš, for consultations and enlightening discussions on the subject.

Last but not least, I thank Graeme Dibble for the grammar corrections.

Final ‘thank you’ goes to my family, for the support and advices.

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Table of Contents:

Opening Statements ...... 3

Table of Contents ...... 5

Preface ...... 7

1. Introduction ...... 9

1.1. Art from the Second World War ...... 9

1.2. Main Thesis ...... 10

1.3. Research Questions ...... 13

1.4. Thesis Structure ...... 14

1.5. Hypothetical Conclusion ...... 16

1.6. Works Previously Written on the Subject: Fine Art...... 17

1.7. Works Previously Written on the Subject: Feature Films ...... 18

2. Methodology ...... 19

3. PART ONE: Overall Historical Context ...... 20

3.1. The Art from the First World War ...... 20

3.2. Ministry of Information ...... 23

3.3. Creation of the War Artists' Advisory Committee ...... 26

3.4. British Film Industry during the Second World War ...... 35

4. PART TWO: Static Pictures - Paintings ...... 36

4.1. Chapter Introduction ...... 36

4.2. Portraits: Individual Faces of the War ...... 40

4.3. War Machine Landscapes: The Glorification of British Industry ...... 53

4.4. Battlefield Landscapes: Heroes in Action ...... 61

4.5. Home Front: Daily Sacrifices of the 'Common Folk' ...... 69

5. PART THREE: Motion Pictures – Feature Films ...... 79

5.1. Chapter Introduction ...... 79

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5.2. In Which We Serve from 1942 ...... 83

5.3. Night Train to Munich from 1940 ...... 88

6. PART FOUR: Ideology Behind Art – A Comparsion Between Britain and Germany .... 94

6.1. Chapter Introduction ...... 94

6.2. War Propaganda in Britain ...... 95

6.3. War Propaganda in Germany ...... 97

6.4. Ideology Behind Propaganda ...... 99

Conclusion ...... 101

Bibliography ...... 103

List of Films ...... 106

Pictures & Illustrations ...... 106

Words Counter: 23 353 / Signs Counter: 130 041

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Preface

The year is 1940, the early days of July. Almost all of Europe has been taken over by Nazi- Germany, while the United States is nowhere to be seen just yet. Great Britain has a new Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and Adolf Hitler is about to start what is supposed to be a crushing attack on the United Kingdom, beginning with several intensive air raids. Looking back on the tragic appeasement policy of Chamberlain’s government, the evacuation of Dunkirk and the huge advantages that Germans had – apparently everything was going against the British people.

“In September 1939, Germany possessed the best-organized and best professionally- trained strategic bombing force in the world […] The Luftwaffe had planned to quickly clear the Channel of the British navy, assure air superiority over the British fighter squadrons […] All that was to be the prelude to an amphibious invasion of Great Britain.”1

Yet we all know how it turned out in the end.

My thesis will deal with one aspect of this historic turnaround; heroism and specifically the heroism of the British people and its portrayal in art between 1939 and 1945.

I can safely identify two inspirational sources which sparked my interested in the question of heroism and eventually led me to choose this subject as my master’s diploma thesis.

Number one, is my love of films, particularly the James Bond film series. As the longest running film franchise in history (57 years old in 2019), the Bond films are known for changing with the times and reflecting upon the current state of affairs around the world. Watching these films led me to start thinking more about the concepts of heroism, since James Bond himself goes through some very radical character changes as the series progresses. All you need to do is to look at Roger Moore’s almost parodic portrayal of the archetypal British hero in The Spy Who Loved Me2 and compare it to Casino Royale3 and Daniel Craig’s brooding anti-hero, whose character makes a number of fatal mistakes throughout the film. Which historical circumstances are driving these radical changes in film characters?

1 HANSON, Victor Davis. The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won. First Edition. New York: Basic Books, 2017, ISBN 9780465066988, pages 80 and 88. 2 The Spy Who Loved Me [film]. Directed by Lewis GILBERT. United Kingdom, 1977. 3 Casino Royale [film]. Directed by Martin CAMPBELL. United Kingdom, 2006. 7

Another good example of changing the concept of hero within one film series is the Superman films. All we have to do is watch how Christopher Reeve’s portrayal of Superman4 from 1978 differs from the character Henry Cavil plays in 2013’s Man of Steel5. What you can observe are two totally different takes on what heroism is and what makes a character a hero.

The second inspirational source is my general affinity with British culture. Since childhood, most of the books I have liked or films I have seen are of British origin and are typical of British culture in one way or another.

And the very last reason I want to mention is the fact that in recent years I have read many books about the Second World War, for instance Andrew Roberts’ comprehensive biography on Winston Churchill or Victor Davis Hanson’s innovative look at the Second World War, as already cited above. These books made me realize something. Something I never learned from the history lessons at school – how historically special and extraordinary the British stand against Germany was during the Second World War, and that there is still much to discover about the spirit and heroism of the British people at that time. What was the role of art and propaganda in this historical national mobilization? The aim of my thesis is to shed a light on this.

I should add that I was unable to work with primary materials from the archives. This thesis is therefore written in its entirety using only secondary sources. Another note is that all the pictures in this thesis are directly downloaded from official museum websites, so the scans are as close to reality as possible. All of the screenshots from the films were taken by me.

4 Superman [film]. Directed by Richard DONNER. USA, 1978. 5 Man of Steel [film]. Directed by Zack SNYDER. USA, 2013. 8

1. Introduction

1.1. Art from the Second World War

As Richard Scolombe points out at the beginning of his short booklet for the Imperial War Museum6, the Second World War meant ‘total war’ for the British people. Unlike the First World War, which mostly took place in France, and British shores remained untouched, this time everybody was affected in one way or another.

Jeremy Havardi observes that even after so many years the Second World War evokes feelings of pride in British people. “Dunkirk, the Blitz and the ‘few’ ” have seared their way into the British imagination, taking on an iconic status that is tantamount to a secular religion […] They also represent a period in which the British nation had a surer sense of its collective identity than at any time since.”7

When Hitler’s air raids, known as the Blitz, began in 1940, British artists under the leadership of Sir Kenneth Clark formed an artistic commission called the War Artists’ Advisory Committee8. The principal goals were simple: to create an artistic record of what the war was – both at home and at abroad, how it felt, and also to help the government in creating an attractive and effective propaganda. Kenneth Clark’s vision was, however, far more complex. He was driven not only by the need to be useful to his country in a time of crisis, but also by the fear from and experience of the First World War – a conflict where many of Britain’s talented artists of the time were heartlessly sent to the front lines, many of whom never made it back home. Clark was determined to prevent that. I shall offer a more comprehensive look into his motivations and the creation of the commission in the chapter on historical context.

6 SCOLOMBE, Richard. British Posters of the Second World War. First Edition. London: Imperial War Museum, 2010, ISBN 9781904897927, page 1. 7 HAVARDI, Jeremy. Projecting Britain at War: The National Character in British World War II Films. First Edition. USA: McFarland, 2014, ISBN 9780786474837, page 3. 8 For the rest of this thesis, I’m going to refer to the War Artists Advisory Committee as the WAAC. 9

1.2. Main Thesis

The purpose of this diploma thesis is to explore and point out ways in which different types of heroism and heroes are portrayed and shown in both British fine art and feature films of the Second World War. Find out, to what extend is possible to identify characteristics and visual trails, which are specifically related to British heroism and how much it is in contrast with portrayal of heroes in art of the Nazi Germany. Also, what are the underlined propaganda messages, how can we identify them and in which way they are connected to the concepts of heroism.

Part of the definition of my main thesis is to explain not only what I am going to write about, but also in which way I am not going to write about certain subjects and why. Why is my thesis formulated in this way?

I am interested only in the fine art produced during wartime and acquired by the WAAC, and only in feature films produced throughout the course of the war – the staged art. This thesis will not mention films shot years later, reflecting upon the war. It will also not deal with documentary filmmaking and photography.

Firstly, why I have limited my thesis to only two countries – Britain and Germany? Why not include the Soviet Union, Italy or even Czechoslovakia? The reason is that I am much more familiar with the cultural and social environment in Britain and Germany, and therefore able to gather more sources and in the end understand more clearly how the British and German people experienced the war and what the historical basis for their propaganda was. Also, both Britain and Germany had sophisticated propaganda spreading through most of the art forms available at the time. For example, Czechoslovakia basically terminated all its film production during the war because it was an occupied country. As we will see in the following chapters, the 1940s were one of the most successful decades for the British film industry and the war kickstarted the careers of many filmmakers and painters.

The second more obvious reason for the limitation in the thesis is that this work is constrained by the number of words. In order to explore more than Britain’s state of affairs during the war without being too superficial would mean writing a massive book.

Finally, I am fully aware that not all art created ‘under the roof’ of the War Artists’ Advisory Committee is necessarily meant as a propaganda. On the contrary, there are strong links with the avantgarde movements of the 1920s. Many of the paintings, for instance Louis Duffy’s

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Aftermatch (1940) or Henry Moore’s Tube Shelter Perspective (1941) are very reminiscent of the depressing images inspired by the horrors of the First World War. I will expand on this comparison in a later chapter.

However, since this thesis deals with the question of heroism, it is only logical that I focus my attention mostly on paintings portraying the heroic aspects of the war, and not so much on the victims and depressing aftermath of air-raids and battles – therefore the art of interest is mainly propaganda art, or art with a propaganda message at its core.

One fundamental matter has to be addressed in relation to my main thesis – what is heroism and how can we define it? Paul Johnson for instance, wrote and entire book on the subject of heroes and heroism. From it, we can basically conclude, that heroism includes the qualities characteristic of a hero, such as courage, bravery, fortitude and unselfishness. It is a display of such qualities. A hero himself is someone who in the face of danger defeats adversity through feats of ingenuity, bravery or strength. The word ‘hero’ comes from the Greek ‘heros’, which means ‘protector’ or ‘defender’. I will expand on the specific types of heroes and heroism in a later chapter.

Another important term which is often used in this thesis and requires a definition is ‘propaganda’. According to Jo Fox, there are two types of propagandist art. Propagandist art usually consists of “images of determined leadership, selfless and heroic sacrifice, stoicism and defiance.”9 Fox then continues to cite David Welch and his definition of the term: “Welch defined propaganda as the deliberate attempt to influence the opinions of an audience through the transmission of ideas and values for a specific persuasive purpose, consciously designed to serve the interest of the propagandist and their political masters, either directly or indirectly.”10

9 FOX, Jo. Propaganda, Art and War. In BOURKE, Joanna et al. War and Art: A Visual History of Modern Conflict. First Edition. London: Reaktion Books, 2017. ISBN 9781848220331, page 196. 10 FOX, Jo. Propaganda, Art and War, page 198. 11

Louis Duffy, Aftermath, 1940, oil on canvas, 71,1 x 60,7 cm, Laing Art Gallery.

Henry Moore, Tube Shelter Perspective, 1940; graphite, ink, wax and watercolour on paper; 483 x 438 mm, Tate.

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1.3. Methodology & Research Questions

My thesis poses many research questions; however, they can be summed up in three basic ones which form the three key areas of my work.

The first one is: What types of heroism can be seen portrayed in the works of art from the Second World War? My goal is to determine the most commonly used expressions of heroism and to find out which of these types appear most frequently (which were acquired the most often by the commission), in what context, but mainly, who was the target audience and how were these particular pieces of art received?

The second important research question is, whether it is possible to determine any sort of common iconographical elements and/or techniques in portraying heroism both in paintings and in film? The difference is obvious. The paintings were usually in colour while the films of that era were strictly black and white, so we have to consider the light, angles, positions and poses of particular people and objects.

The third and final major question is: In which way is British heroism specifically British? How does it relate to the national history and social climate of the time? The final chapter of my thesis hopes to answer this question by comparing wartime Britain to its ideological enemy, Nazi Germany.

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1.4. Thesis Structure

The structure of my thesis has been constructed in order to comprehensively inform the reader about my research as well as provide sufficient support to the arguments I make in this text.

The first part is Historical Context. In order to understand why an organization such as the WAAC was formed, it is important to look at the First World War. The first reason is due to the treatment of British artists throughout the course of the war, and the second reason is that many of the paintings from the Second World War were inspired by their older counterparts. Therefore, I describe the relationship between the artists and the government at that time. From that, I move on to a comprehensive history of the WAAC and the circumstances behind its founding by Sir Kenneth Clark. Since films are a crucial part of my thesis, this chapter will also consist of a brief history of the British film industry before and during the Second World War. It is also necessary to shed a light on the inner workings of a controversial institution which connected both the WAAC and the Film Division – the Ministry of Information.

While the chapter on the historical context is a part of the theoretical section of my work, the next chapter already belongs in the analytical one. It is called Static Pictures – Paintings. The goals of this chapter are to differentiate between different portrayals of heroism, categorize paintings based on what they represent and then analyse them in order to answer one of my thesis research questions. In terms of size, this is logically the largest chapter in this thesis.

The third chapter serves the same purpose as the second one, the only difference being that in this case films are in the spotlight, not paintings. That is why this chapter is called Motion Pictures – Feature Films. The number of films I analyse is substantially smaller than the number of paintings. However, there is a reason why I decided to limit the number of films. In this chapter I am not carrying out a traditional neoformalist or narrative analysis, instead I am subjecting these films to iconographical and iconological analyses, with only a few aspects of narrative analysis. This means that the films I am analysing had to be made by filmmaker who was known for their ability to tell a story through strong visuals and do it consciously. And David Lean was certainly capable of that, as was Carol Reed, though that will be discussed later.

The fourth and final chapter answers the research question about where the uniqueness of British heroism lies. It also serves as a sort of teaser for the possibility of further research. Since my work examines what is sometimes described as the ‘British spirit’, roused by state war propaganda and the philosophy behind it, I believe it is crucial to also look at the

14 ideological enemy. What was the philosophy behind Nazi Germany’s propaganda? What was its historical and philosophical foundation, and how did Germans use propaganda to motivate its citizens? This last main chapter is a comparative one.

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1.5. Hypothetical Conclusion

At the end my thesis will clarify and define the entirely different philosophical approaches to propaganda in Britain and Nazi Germany, both on a state level and individual level. British propaganda was much more focused on highlighting the heroism of ordinary people (the so- called ‘common folk’). British people sacrificed their way of life in order to nobly serve and protect their country, no matter if this was done by working in a factory or fighting in the trenches.

However, German propaganda and art of the era was more focused on vilifying targeted groups of people – Jews – while glorifying the military. The British soldier was an ordinary family man, possibly an adventurer with a noble cause. The German soldier was an unstoppable superhero. It was not about him as an individual, but as a representative of his race. A specimen of perfection destined to rule the world.

Art serves as a mirror to society. It helps to establish social values and reveals what holds us together as nations. Ultimately, my thesis should serve as an unconventional look at the meaning of art during wartime and shine a light on the work of the WAAC, which in my opinion is unprecedented. No state-financed organization in history has managed to combine propaganda with high-value art, keep it all in the right balance and make a success out of it. The WAAC managed to make fine art relevant to the wider public. Here we will see a correlation between fine art and film.

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1.6. Works Previously Written on the Subject: Fine Art

There is a vast number of books on each of the artists and different aspects of wartime art out there in the world. My task was to choose books which were suitable for my interest in British wartime art and my search for heroism in it. In the following two subchapters, I’m going to briefly describe only few essential books out of many, which are cited in this diploma thesis.

To introduce myself to the subject, some of the books I have worked give a global overview of wartime art, with only one chapter being dedicated to British art. For example, there is an excellent volume by Barbara McCloskey – Artists of World War II – which not only offers an overview of wartime art in each of the participating countries, but also provides brief profiles of key artistic figures of that period. Another book I want to highlight is Art and the Second World War by Monica Bohm-Duchen, which consists of number of very thoroughly written essays on the nature of propaganda and offer a great insight into the art from the Nazi Germany.

The more thematically focused literature were my main sources for this thesis. There are two essential books. The first one is War Paint by Brian Foss, providing a comprehensive history of the WAAC. The second essential book is Art and the War at Sea, comprising of a number of essays edited by Christine Riding which focus solely on the art portraying naval history and British traditions, which proved to be significant during the war.

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1.7. Works Previously Written on the Subject: Feature Films

Examining the sources on wartime cinema was in some respects much more challenging than in the case of fine art as so much more has been written on the subject. Wartime cinema has been almost fully documented by film scientists and scholars. Mark Glancy states that in the 1970s, the British government was finally allowed to release all of the documents related to the film policies and propaganda of the Second World War. There exists a 30-year rule which puts a time limit on certain government documents. From the 1970s onwards, historians were suddenly able to research the workings of the Ministry of Information and its Film Division. Documents about reception of the films and production records also became available with the remaining documents.

The essential book on wartime British film is James Chapman’s book called The British at War: Cinema, State and Propaganda, 1939-45, which offers the most valuable information, not only on the films themselves, but also on the inner workings of the Ministry of Information.

Jo Fox approached her book Film Propaganda in Britain and Nazi Germany: World War II Cinema in the same way as I did in this thesis. It is a comparative analysis of two rival nations (Britain and Nazi Germany) and how they utilized film as propaganda.

Other books were chosen simply by looking at reviews and considering if they included any information which the aforementioned two did not. My list was later expanded by Britain Can Take It by Jeffrey Richards and Tony Aldgate, which offers a very good description and analysis of wartime films, and British War Films, 1939-45 by Paul Mackenzie.

Another essential book on the subject is Projecting Britain at War: The National Character in British World War II Films by Jeremy Havardi. Even though the book exclusively covers British cinema, his remarks and thoughts are easily applicable to other types of wartime art. Havardi offers great insights into the mentality of the British people during the war and how it was informed by propaganda. Other sources include independent essays written on various film sites (BFI and Criterion) and University Journals (Mark Glancy).

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2. Methodology

This thesis merges several types of analyses. It is framed by a historical analysis which delves into the history of institutions (such as the WAAC or the Ministry of Information) which oversaw and acquired fine art and films – the subjects of this thesis.

The main part of my thesis consists of iconographical and iconological analyses of both specific drawings and paintings and of films.

The final chapter is a comparative historical analysis, describing what drove propaganda in both Britain and Nazi Germany.

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PART ONE

3. Overall Historical Context

3.1. Art from the First World War

The First World War is considered to be a ‘first’ in many ways. The conflict is notorious for being the first technology-driven, inhumane war. Up until 1914 the rules of engagement between soldiers had been firmly established. When a soldier died, he most often died at the hands of another soldier. Never before in history had people died in their thousands, killed by deadly gas or machine guns. It was also the first conflict to be fully documented, since photography and film became widespread. Escape from reality and brutality of the war was possible no more.

The Great War had a powerful effect on the painters, sculptors and printmakers who had participated in it. With the spread of avant-garde art, they produced a vast number of sophisticated images which captured the horrors they experienced in the trenches.

This short subchapter will explore the position of art and artists in Britain during the first modern conflict.

Roger Tolson of the Imperial War Museum writes: “The war art schemes developed by the British government during the First World War were an unprecedented act of government sponsorship of the arts.”11

And he is correct. However, in the case of Britain, the state patronage of art began as late as mid-1916. When looking at the First World War paintings acquired by the Imperial War Museum, most of them are dated from 1917 onwards.

Paul Gough explains this in one of the chapters of War and Art: “The British government was slow to commission artists in the First World War. French and German artists had been

11 TOLSON, Roger. Art from the First World War. First Edition. London: Imperial War Museum, 2014, ISBN 9781904897897, page 5. 20 recording battlefronts long before the Scottish draughtsman Muirhead Bone was appointed the first official British artist in mid-1916.”12

Gough then continues to explain that the Department of Information (which became an independent ministry in February 1918) eventually hired more artists and used their work as both propaganda and valuable pieces of art. However, most of these artists came from the royal academies and had no experience of the war itself, so according to Gough the war was presented in a rather outdated fashion. It was only in 1917 that a new generation of artists began to emerge. Most of these young men, such as Paul Nash and Christopher Nevinson, were serving in the armed forces when they suddenly drew attention: “Their experience of the battlefields in France and Belgium and the impact on the men who fought there resulted in art of immense power and singularity of vison, unparalleled in modern times.”13

This is related to the fact that the First World War was a conflict of disillusion. Paul Nash once famously said that what he saw on the front line was godless and hopeless. He declared himself to be a messenger who would deliver messages from the soldiers to the people who wanted the war to go on forever.

Paul Nash, After the Battle, 1918, watercolour and ink on paper, 83,2 cm x 71,2 cm, Imperial War Museum.

12 GOUGH, Paul. A Concentrated Utterance of Total War: Paul Nash, C. R. W. Nevinson and the Great War. In BOURKE, Joanna et al. War and Art: A Visual History of Modern Conflict. First Edition. London: Reaktion Books, 2017. ISBN 9781848220331, page 268. 13 GOUGH, Paul. A Concentrated Utterance of Total War: Paul Nash, C. R. W. Nevinson and the Great War, page 268. 21

The determination of Nash and many of his colleagues cannot be understated. The recent documentary by the filmmaker Peter Jackson They Shall Not Grow Old14, not only shows the brutal reality of the First World War on remastered and coloured period footage, but the viewer also hears veterans explain how nobody at home really knew what was going on in the trenches. The function of the art was to inform them about it, and therefore it served a completely different purpose to the art of the Second World War.

To sum up this short chapter, the First World War was an entirely different type of conflict, so the propaganda and the artistic reaction was completely different from the Second World War. In the ‘first one’, artists reflected upon the horrors of the war and the fact that it was ultimately meaningless. The Second World War encouraged artists to enthusiastically participate in the propaganda, uphold British values and motivate people to stand up for their country. Of course, as I have already said, not all art was meant to be propaganda, but there was much more unity between the government and the artists.

14 They Shall Not Grow Old [film]. Directed by Peter JACKSON. United Kingdom, 2018. 22

3.1. The Ministry of Information

In order to understand the nature of British heroism and the way artists were inspired for their subjects, we need to look at the institutions which were essential for them. In this short chapter, I shall cover the shared territory of both the WAAC and the wartime British film industry.

In every crisis, there is at least one person, or in this case, organization, which in some way serves as a ‘lighting conductor’, taking in all the people’s anger and frustration. It is safe to say that for the British public during the Second World War this was the Ministry of Information.

The goal of this newly15 formed state authority (in October 1939) was to present the national case to the British nation through its control of the news and censorship.

James Chapman offers a rather extensive description of the misfortune and bad planning which led to the MOI being called the ‘Ministry of Dis-Information’ and the ‘Ministry of Muddle’ by both the public and the press.

Chapman quotes Ian McLaine (author of the book Ministry of Morale): “It is ironic, and not a little poignant, that the body charged with sustaining public morale and with maintaining confidence in the government should itself have suffered from chronically low morale and been the object of general ridicule.”16

Even ‘the protagonist of my thesis’, Sir Kenneth Clark, was rather dismissive of the MOI:

“This notorious institution had been put together rather hastily when the threat of war could no longer be ignored […] It was said to contain 999 employees […] an uneasy mixture of so-called intellectuals, ex-journalists and advertising men, ex-politicians and discarded éminences grises. In this undirected orchestra, it was necessary for each man to blow his own trumpet as loudly as he could.”17

Chamberlain’s Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax called the MOI “a body without a head and not very effective limbs either.” The press was not particularly fond of the MOI either. Norman Riley wrote a piece called 999 And All That in 1940. Was all this public hate for the MOI

15 Originally formed in February 1918, later eliminated during the interwar years. 16 CHAPMAN, James. The British at War: Cinema, State and Propaganda, 1939-45 (Cinema and Society). First Edition. London: I. B. Tauris, 2000, ISBN 9781860646270, pages 17 and 257 17 FOSS, Brian. War Paint: Art, War, State and Identity in Britain 1939-1945. First Edition. London: Yale University Press, 2007, ISBN 9780300108903, page 14. 23 legitimate? Chapman suggests that only in part: “Although the MOI was to function quite efficiently later in the war, and employed far more personnel than the notorious 999, it never completely shook off the negative impression that it had made at the beginning and was stuck thereafter with a reputation for blundering and incompetence.”18 And what exactly caused the negative impression? And why was this negativity so amplified by the media and the public?

The amplification of negativity is easily explained. Obviously, every new state apparatus is bound to have some issues in its organization. But in the case of every other ministry, internal mistakes usually remain internal. Everything the MOI did was in the public sphere and therefore open to intensive criticism.

The second problem in the first years of the MOI was its leadership’s inability to deal with any sort of criticism. It wasn’t that Lord Macmillan, who served as the MOI’s minister from September 1939 to January 1940, was arrogant. The problem with Macmillan was that as a lord he sat in the House of Lords and did not know about the criticism raised about his department in the House of Commons.

Chapman, however, continues to describe much more serious problems than the minister himself. The MOI was not only to produce propaganda for the home front, but it also supplied news and information to the media.

“The system for the release of news broke down because there had been no co-ordination between the planning of the MOI and the regulation enforced by the service departments; the MOI was then blamed for the lack of official news. This was to be a major source of frustration for the news media, including the newsreel film companies.”19

The last reason for mistrust between public and the MOI was, of course, the political agenda and the inevitable clash between the political left and right. Sir Joseph Ball had to be replaced as the head of the Film Division in April 1940 by none other than Sir Kenneth Clark. Chapman suggested that Ball, a professional with long experience in film propaganda, which he used to help the Conservatives in the general election of 1935, had to go because of the necessity for change rather than for making a mistake. The increased criticism from the

18 CHAPMAN, James. The British at War: Cinema, State and Propaganda, 1939-45 (Cinema and Society), page 14. 19 CHAPMAN, James. The British at War: Cinema, State and Propaganda, 1939-45 (Cinema and Society), pages 18 and 19.

24 political left also played a huge part. Since the MOI was there for the whole nation, it is only logical that fears were constantly present amongst both the political left and right.

However, it is fair to say that even though the Ministry of Information suffered from widespread mistrust, it was still possibly the least bureaucratic and centralized way of controlling state propaganda. The artists were free to paint the images and make the films in almost any way they wanted and then pitch them to the committee. The propaganda message was usually present, but it was understated. It did not mean that if the artist produced something depressing or slightly controversial that he was not allowed to publish it. This is in direct contrast with Nazi Germany, where everything regarding propaganda was much more strictly controlled and centralized, and the visual language had to be much more strongly unified than in the case of Britain.

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3.1. The Creation of the War Artists’ Advisory Committee

This sub-chapter offers a look at the creation of the War Artists’ Advisory Committee (also known as the WAAC).

Even with all its brutality and huge losses on all sides, the First World War left Britain’s territory mostly undamaged. The main setting for the carnage was France. The Second World War was a different kind of experience for the British people. Barbara McCloskey observes that “Hitler’s Blitzkrieg (which took place between September 1940 and May 1941) erased distinctions between the home front and the battlefront.”20 In the previous war, artists were sent in large numbers to the front. Not this time. This time, the front came to them.

The importance of the creation of the WAAC is simply yet brilliantly described in the introduction to Brian Foss’s essential book on the subject:

“It remains a stubborn fact that the War Artists’ Advisory Committee played a dominant role in the sustenance and promotion of art when many other organisations did so ineffectively or not at all. Aside from supporting large numbers of artists, it helped to articulate national values and beliefs when they were most needed and established a framework of state support for the visual arts.”21

Foss also points out that over the years the WAAC has been the subject of a surprisingly small number of studies. Many people just did not understand the purpose of capturing the war using a brush and watercolours when photography and film cameras were available. Another fact according to Foss is that: “The study of the WAAC has subsequently been hampered by the view that the engagement of artists with the war marks the closing point of a cohesive chapter in visual expression: a divide within the history of twentieth-century British art.”22

Undoubtably, the most important person in the story of the WAAC is its founder, Sir Kenneth Clark, a well-known and respected art historian with a vast number of contacts in the British artistic community. According to Foss, it made perfect sense to make Clark head of the commission, not only because it was his idea, but because he was a well-respected figure:

20 MCCLOSKEY, Barbara. Artists of World War II (Artists of an Era). Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2005, ISBN 9780313321535, page 69. 21 FOSS, Brian. War Paint: Art, War, State and Identity in Britain 1939-1945, page 1. 22 FOSS, Brian. War Paint: Art, War, State and Identity in Britain 1939-1945, page 2.

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“Clark was selected because of his status within the art establishment. He had been keeper of fine art at the Ashmolean Museum in the early 1930s before becoming director of National Gallery in 1934 […] He had a genuine and well-publicised concern for artists’ welfare and was broadly respected by most art groups and societies.”23

If anyone was able to unite the wartime artists under one roof, it was Kenneth Clark. His job, however, was not at all easy. Foss once again explains:

“The WAAC strove to balance often conflicting aims and ideals of its own diverse membership (comprised of artists, art professionals, and those whose interest in visual art was more publicity-driven), the demands of the state (with its poorly defined concepts of propaganda and morale), and the expectations of geographically, intellectually and culturally diverse populations.”24

What exactly was driving Clark’s motives and what led him to suggest the creation of the WAAC to the Ministry of Information?

Throughout his life, Clark stated two reasons why he apparently formed the commission. The first can be easily deduced from history. As we know how many artists died in the First World War, one of Clark’s motives was to ensure that it did not happen again in this war. Foss cites John Murray’s biography of Clark from 1977 as source for the following quote:

“I was not so naive as to suppose that we should secure a record of the war that could not be better achieved by photography […] I did not disclose, was simply to keep artists at work on any pretext, and, as far as possible, to prevent them from being killed.”25

Here, in my opinion, Clark cynically downplays his otherwise noble and much more complex motives for creating the committee.

In one of the WAAC booklets published during the war (there were four of them – War at Sea, Blitz, RAF and Army), other reasons vindicating the commission’s existence are stated:

23 FOSS, Brian. War Paint: Art, War, State and Identity in Britain 1939-1945, page 16. 24 FOSS, Brian. War Paint: Art, War, State and Identity in Britain 1939-1945, page 14. 25 FOSS, Brian. War Paint: Art, War, State and Identity in Britain 1939-1945, page 9.

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“What did it look like? They will ask in 1981, and no amount of description or documentation will answer them. Nor will big, formal compositions like the battle pictures which hang in palaces; and even photographs, which tell us so much, will leave out the colour and the peculiar feeling of events in these extraordinary years. Only the artist with his heightened powers of perception can recognise which elements in a scene can be pickled for posterity in the magical essence of style.”26

As Foss expands on this, Clark’s record suggests that he most definitely saw the WAAC as an instrument to improve public taste and cultivate (and foster) British national culture. He also wanted to “lay the groundwork for the post-war patronage of art by the state.”27 His short- term goal, however, was much simpler and more straightforward; Clark just wanted to keep the artists employed and prevent them from getting killed on the front lines.

Barbara McCloskey adds to this by differentiating the WAAC from other similar committees. Clark was trying to get contributions from the British avantgarde, trying to persuade them that his endeavour was not only about propaganda, but the significance and quality of these paintings would transcend the war.28

In order to get an idea of how the WAAC worked, let us look at some of the examples McCloskey offered in her chapter. The committee was constantly under pressure to keep up with the demands.

One of the examples McCloskey uses is the attempts by ministerial officials to neutralize the threat of strikes by discontented workers. The WAAC was, therefore, tasked with creating some portraits celebrating the work of ordinary workers. One of the most famous paintings of that specific assignment is the portrayal of a hard-working woman Ruby Loftus by Laura Knight, as seen later in this chapter.

Another example with a sadder ending was an assignment the WAAC was given during the Blitz. RAF pilots at that time became national heroes. The commission was tasked with producing paintings celebrating the pilots and their courage. The WAAC hired the famous painter Paul Nash to produce a series of watercolour paintings. “(Nash) incorporated surrealist tendencies from his earlier work as a member of the modernist avant-garde in the 1930s […] His images depicted unmanned bombers and fighter aircrafts as technological weapons,

26 FOSS, War Paint: Art, War, State and Identity in Britain 1939-1945, page 20. 27 FOSS, War Paint: Art, War, State and Identity in Britain 1939-1945, page 9. 28 MCCLOSKEY, Barbara. Artists of World War II (Artists of an Era), page 69. 28 metamorphosed into aggressive, predatory animals.”29 Nash did a series of paintings; however, his style was not viewed very favourably by RAF officials and so he no longer worked on RAF projects, even to the dismay of Sir Kenneth Clark.

Paul Nash, Follow the Führer Above the Clouds, 1942, watercolour, ink and collage on paper, 38,5 x 56,5 cm, Imperial War Museum.

Now that we have established history of the WAAC, let us look at the types of paintings that were produced by the commission. Artists hired by the commission aimed to create a piece of art that was both modern and had obvious artistic qualities, yet at the same time included a propaganda message. Either the message was intentional, therefore the subject matter of the painting and the style was straightforward and easily readable, or it was implied in a more subtle fashion, which often led to confusion by government officials, or was not considered adequate by the commission. This does not mean that all the artists who worked for the commission specifically aimed to create propaganda. On the contrary, in many cases the propaganda message was incidental, created purely by the subject matter portrayed. This for instance is the case in of the paintings I’m going to analyse later, A House Collapsing on Two Firemen by Leonard Rosoman, in which he captures a scenery of building falling down on

29 MCCLOSKEY, Barbara. Artists of World War II (Artists of an Era), page 74. 29 two of his colleagues. It’s not clear, whether his true intention was to highlight the heroism of the people, or just show other people the horror of the moment, or both.

Interesting example is David Bomberg and his charcoal drawing submitted to the WAAC based on his short-term contract. It ended up being short term because Clark was apparently not very impressed with his work. Bomberg was asked to produce paintings of secret underground bomb stores. The lines and the atmosphere the drawing creates is undoubtedly immersive for the viewer, yet the overall feeling from the picture is rather depressing.

According to the official Tate website30, Bomberg originally produced a number of drawings and three oil paintings. Even though now they are considered as the highlight of his career, at the time, they were mostly rejected by the WAAC for being too abstract and experimental. It is easy to see why. As I stated before, the whole point of the WAAC was to create art which (at least to some degree) merged with the government’s requirements – to boost the morale and/or document the war effort. Trying to keep to that thin line often proved difficult. The abstract images of David Bomberg were almost too abstract to deliver the message.

David Bomberg, An Underground Bomb Store (1), 1942, charcoal on paper, 53,5 x 66,0 cm, Imperial War Museum.

30 TATE [online]. David Bomberg – Bomb Store, 1942. Last Revision 20. 3. 2019 [cit. 20. 3. 2019]. Available from: 30

Another painting with a similar fate is Mervyn Peake’s The Evolution of the Cathode Ray (Radiolocation).

According to Foss31, Peake tried very hard to attract interest from the commission. He finally succeeded when he submitted a number of drawings of workers in a glass-blowing factory. This resulted in a three-month contract, during which he produced The Evolution of the Cathode Ray. In a surprising turn of events “the WAAC deemed the resulting paintings insufficient to meet the terms of the contract.”

Obviously painting does not aim for perfect realism (as we will observe in the next example) but in this case, the commission’s decision seems baffling to say at least. It shows the step by step creation of Cathode Ray (an important particle for radio-location devices), the tense bodies of workers sweating in the heat (the entire image is coloured in red shade), in other words, the message is quite understandable and positive. It is also difficult to argue about the artistic qualities. Again it is difficult to explain why the WAAC decided not to accept this painting, whether it was because of the painting itself, or for budgetary reasons.

Mervyn Peak, The Evolution of the Cathode Ray (Radiolocation) Tube, 1943, oil on canvas, 85,0 x 110,4 cm, Imperial War Museum.

31 FOSS, Brian. War Paint: Art, War, State and Identity in Britain 1939-1945, page 200. 31

The third example of an entirely opposite type of image, is Laura Knight’s Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech-Ring, a famous painting created in 1943. The image is pure realism, almost like a photography, showing a young woman worker screwing a breech-ring. It is figural painting, made with artistic precision, a bold subject matter and a fascinating story behind its origin. In my opinion it shows the best of both worlds. Ruby Loftus has undoubted artistic qualities (its realism and attention to detail) and at the same time, the message of the painting can be easily understood by people with little taste or previous experience with art.

Laura Knight, Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring, 1943, oil on canvas, 86,3 x 101,9 cm, Imperial War Museum.

What these examples show us is how careful and ‘picky’ the commission was (since not all members of the commission were artists and art critics), when it came to approving and acquiring the paintings. Semi-abstract and surrealist portrayals of war were often controversial both to the military authorities and to the general audience, so it is not surprising that the commission had to be extremely careful in picking the artists and images. I should point out it is very hard to find a pattern in the commission’s decisions. It seems to me the commission’s decision making was mostly affected by chance and the political climate of each day and month. Later we will see if that is true.

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It is crucial to understand Clark’s point of view on propaganda, because he (again paraphrasing McCloskey) not only saw it as state propaganda, but also propaganda ensuring the survival of Britain’s cultural heritage, and propaganda which aimed to improve the aesthetic standards of British society. By making this committee a reality, Clark had in some way achieved a great heroic act.

We have now established that the British government was at first not very keen on supporting an artistic committee. “Clark’s preference for the aesthetic qualities of art over the documentary nature of photography would eventually surface as a point of contention between him and military officials who also participated in the WAAC.”32

What might have helped in getting the WAAC going and keep it alive might very well have been the presence of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who is himself acknowledged as a renowned painter.

Let us take a look at two quotes by Winston Churchill in two of his speeches, one from 1937 and one a year later. Both of these quotes almost perfectly match the goals of the WAAC and Clark’s opinions about what modern art should be.

The first quote is from Churchill’s speech Sea Power in Art on the occasion of an art exhibition opening in New Burlington Galleries in July 1937:

“There is also the question of whether the exhibition is to be characterized under the heading of art or of propaganda. I do not see why the two should not be combined, although they are not always combined.”33

The second quote is from his speech called We Ought Indeed to Cherish the Arts addressed to the members of Royal Academy at Burlington House in April 1938. This quote, in my opinion, cogently explains Churchill’s attitude towards art and what it meant for both him as a politician and as a painter:

“The arts are essential to any complete national life. The state owes it to itself to sustain and encourage them. The country possesses in the Royal Academy an institution of wealth and power for the purpose of encouraging the arts of painting and sculpture. It would be disastrous if the control of this machine fell into the hands of

32 MCCLOSKEY, Barbara. Artists of World War II (Artists of an Era), page 72. 33 CANNADINE, David. Churchill: The Statesman as Artist. First Edition. London: Bloomsbury Continuum, 2018, ISBN 9781472945211, page 90. 33

any particular school of artistic thought which, like a dog in a manger, would have little pleasure itself, but would exclude all others. The function of such an institution as the Royal Academy is to hold a middle course between tradition and innovation. Without tradition art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation it is a corpse.”34

I find the second quotation by Churchill important since it was given only a year before the WAAC was created. It is also in direct contrast with Hitler’s opinion on art. In Hitler’s ‘national renewal’, there was no place for modern art forms, since they only led to social decay. As McCloskey writes: “Hitler demanded instead the development of a new artistic culture rooted in the German imperial past yet expressive at the same time of the country’s future.”35 I will expand on this in the final chapter.

Even though Churchill’s taste in modern art was apparent, as this chapter show us, the members of the WAAC (and Clark especially) had a lot on their hands to keep their relevance and be accountable to the military authorities and the Ministry of Information. As the war continued, the threat of the committee’s budget being cut was always present. If the WAAC failed to provide a number of useful paintings for propaganda purposes, it would be closed down by the Ministry of Information as a waste of money.

34 CANNADINE, David. Churchill: The Statesman as Artist, pages 92 and 93. 35 MCCLOSKEY, Barbara. Artists of World War II (Artists of an Era), page 42. 34

3.1. The British Film Industry before and during the Second World War

In this very brief subchapter, I shall describe the position of the British film industry at the start of the Second World War. I do not intend to shift the focus too much from fine art and I shall examine the film industry in more depth in a later chapter.

There is a reason why the film industry was not an essential part of propaganda during the early years of cinema - it was not taken seriously. In his book, S. P. Mackenzie states that there were propaganda tendencies in the most forms of visual art, but almost none in fictional films.36

When it comes to the state of film production, it was not looking particularly good at the beginning. In the early 1920s, 90 percent of all films shown in Britain were made in the USA. As a result, in 1927 quotas were put in place to support the British film industry. By the 1930s, British films were competing with Hollywood not only in terms of quality, but also quantity.

In 1939, all of this was in jeopardy. Filmmakers had to deal with the loss of personnel, and vast amounts of studio space was acquired by the government as storage space was desperately needed. Some of the soundstages were transformed into factories.

“Between 1939 and 1942 the number of studios in operation as such diminished from 22 (using 65 soundstages) to 9 (with 30 soundstages). Pinewood, Elstree, Sound City and Amalgamated – with 7 stages each and total floor space of 444,000 square feet at their disposal – were among the studios lost to feature film production.”37

The loss of space and people were not the only problems. By the start of the Second World War, the government increased the so-called excess profit tax. It was rising steadily, up to 36% in 1945. Every aspect of film production and distribution now had to be changed. Older films were re-issued and sent into distribution and new films had significantly extended runs. Ticket prices went up as the result of a rise in the entertainment tax. These changes and their statistical impact (if there was any) will be examined in a later chapter.

36 MACKENZIE, Paul. British War Films, 1939-1945: The Cinema and The Services. First Edition. London: Hambleton Continuum, 2006, ISBN 9781852855864, page 2. 37 CHAPMAN, James. The British at War: Cinema, State and Propaganda, 1939-45 (Cinema and Society, page 2. 35

PART TWO

4. Static Pictures – Painting

4.1. Chapter Introduction

Now that I have established the historical and political context of pre-war and wartime Britain, let us move on to the main part of my thesis – an analysis of heroism in wartime art.

While examining the large number of books on art from the Second World War, I noticed the artwork can be separated into a number of distinct categories based on the types of heroes they portray. However, this does not tell us about the specific heroism or heroic acts in these paintings.

What constitutes heroism? Why do we need heroism?

Most of the time, heroism sets an example. Exemplary life and heroism go hand in hand, especially in propaganda, which aims to set an example. Defining heroism is difficult, since it is a very flexible set of ideas, varying within different societies and nations.

When it comes to defining heroism, a book by John Price was my prime source of information. According to Price: “Heroism is not a single, static or rigidly understood notion, but rather a flexible and malleable constellation of ideas which can be shaped or constructed along different lines by different groups of people.”38

Defining heroes is much more easier. Just by reading classic literature and fairy tales, or by watching films, it is easy to identify and name different types of heroes.

I believe it is possible to look for heroism in most British art, or at least that which was acquired by the WAAC and included an underlying propaganda message. Most of the wartime art, which also served as propaganda, makes clear distinctions between good and evil, between heroes and villains. The aim of propaganda is to boost a nation’s morale. It necessary that the language of propaganda is universal, understandable to people of all classes

38 PRICE, John. Everyday Heroism: Victorian Constructions of the Heroic Civilian. First Edition. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015, ISBN 9781474247955, page 12. 36 and age groups. Therefore, one safe approach for the state is to employ that which works in traditional stories and fairy tales; a black and white distinction between good and evil. In the case of Britain, all the British citizens are good and every German is a villain. In conclusion, everyone portrayed in propaganda art is somehow helping the cause for good, striving for honour. In other words, they are acting heroically.

Important thing to point out. Not everyone who acts good or in good will would be considered a hero in the time of peace. This is specific for the periods of war.

The types of hero are widely covered, but for the purposes of state propaganda, only certain types are used. I looked throughout number of books and articles to find a suitable categories for this thesis. In the end, I decided to use an article from NY Book Editors39 as a basis for my categorization.

First, there’s the tragic hero and antihero – people with deep flaws who either overcome them or do not – are not propaganda subjects. They would only confuse the general public and lead to misinterpretations.

‘Willing hero’ and ‘unwilling hero’ are the most common examples in 20th-century literature. The willing hero is someone who faces danger on a regular basis, is daring and never backs away. He is sure of himself and knows what he is doing. Soldiers and high-ranking officers can be considered willing heroes.

An unwilling hero, on the other hand, is someone who is not prepared to become one – he has no strength or magical abilities, yet through his character or with the help of the people around him, he exceeds everyone’s expectations. Typical examples from 20th-century British literature are the Hobbits from the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, or the Pevensies children from C. S. Lewis’s series The Chronicles of Narnia. In other words, the unwilling heroes are the so- called ‘common-folk’, young army volunteers, male and female workers in the factories, helping the nation’s cause.

Then there are the ‘classical hero’ and the ‘epic hero’. These two types are very difficult to apply to this thesis. They do appear, but only in a certain way. The classical hero is someone who is perfect and very close to the willing-hero type. What makes them different is that the

39 NY Book Editors [online]. 6 Types of Heroes You Need In Your Story. Last Revision 30. 3. 2018 [cit. 14. 2. 2019]. Available from: . 37 classical hero has some sort of magical ability, divine heritage, and he stands apart from others. These types of heroes can be found in the ancient Greek myths.

In British legends, King Arthur could be considered a classical hero. The epic hero has more in common with the (un)willing hero than with the classical one. The epic hero starts off as an ordinary person, but later becomes a national symbol. He is not just known for the good things he did, but the things he did which represent the very best of a nation’s culture. Odysseus or Beowulf are these types of heroes.

In relation to my thesis, we will not see these types of heroes directly portrayed in the wartime art of Britain, but we can definitely see them in the art of Nazi Germany, which fills a significant part of chapter four. It is also important to mention these types of heroes in relation to British art, because they are referenced through symbolism. Willing and unwilling heroes are often likened to the classical and epic heroes through the visual aspects of paintings and therefore gain certain ‘classic/epic hero qualities.’

Now that I established what is heroism and what are the different types of hero, on what basis should heroism be categorized for the purposes of this thesis?

I believe it makes most sense to distinguish between heroism carried out by ordinary people and people who were trained and expected to be heroic, in other words – the acts of unwilling and willing heroes. The first category of heroism is ‘everyday heroism’. This concept of heroism is very often tied to the ‘unwilling hero’. It is achieved by ordinary people, mostly doing ordinary things and act heroically out of necessity. In wartime, this type of heroism usually happens on the home front and often consists of truly ordinary deeds, such as working every day in a factory on a piece of weaponry or military equipment. Another characteristic is that this type of heroism often goes unnoticed.

I call the second category ‘imperial heroism’. There is a reason why I have chosen the word ‘imperial’. It is my belief that the notion of heroism in the British military ranks and the idea of the British hero is deeply rooted in the history of the British Empire. As we will see in some of the works of art, the notion of Britain as an imperial power proved to be crucial to the cause. To lay the groundwork for my claims, Price writes:

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“For the imperial adventurer, heroism was something which, arguably, was actively sought out and indeed performed, as it provides an inevitable and desirable part of their endeavours and one that represented a necessary accomplishment on their ascendency to greatness.”40

There are number of different ways to categorize heroism and heroes, that the one I use in this thesis and there are many difficult questions we can ask about what constitutes a hero. As Paul Johnson reminds us, on one hand hero is everyone who is considered to be a hero by the public. But also, some of the categories of heroes and heroism have been devaluated throughout history. Cortez and Pizarro are today considered to be the imperialist of the worst kind. It’s easy to say, Livingstone (one of the typical Victorian heroes) is today marked as a racist. I’m not saying, that the definitions I use in my diploma thesis are the only right definitions out there. They however provide a framework, which fits in with what the people of Britain saw as heroism during the Second World War.

Having established the categories of heroes and heroism that I shall be searching, let us move on to the analyses of the selected works of art.

40 PRICE, John. Everyday Heroism: Victorian Constructions of the Heroic Civilian, page 10. 39

4.2. Portraits: Individual Faces of the War

The first subchapter of my analysis looks for heroism in one of the most common types of wartime art – military portraits. My goal is to define or look for heroism and look for any common elements or techniques used in three selected paintings. The parameters for choosing the painting were simple. My choice was limited to the artworks acquired by the WAAC, and my aim was to choose specific paintings in a way which allows me to demonstrate different aspects of heroism, different approaches to the subject matter and also highlight the important artistic names of the wartime period.

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Stoker Martin of HMS Exeter by Eric Kennington

Eric Kennington, Stoker Martin of HMS ‘Exeter’, 1940, pastel on paper, 90,5 x 70,5 cm, National Maritime Museum.

It is impossible to write about portraits from the Second World War without mentioning Eric Kennington. His specialization was drawing military officers and ordinary soldiers. With each portrait, his goal was to show the heroism of these people. Kennington participated in both world wars. He emerged from the First World War as a wounded veteran and served exclusively as a war artist in the Second World War. Apart from his military achievements, he is also known for illustrating Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T. E. Lawrence.

Kennington was attached to the WAAC for only a short period of time – from 1939 to 1940. He criticized the WAAC for not finding more subjects he could paint, so he broke off his contract. The WAAC later offered him work with the Air Ministry, which he accepted.

Stoker A. Martin served on HMS Exeter, a veteran heavy cruiser, launched in 1929 and later sunk in March 1942 in the second battle of the Java Sea, after engaging with four Japanese heavy cruisers.

In a biography of Kennington written by Jonathan Black, Kennington offers a description of the subject in the picture: “A man of action: instantaneous: 100 percent reliable: expert

41 technician. Much humour under thorough camouflage. Very gentle, sensitive and great physical strength.”41

When looking at the portrait of Stoker A. Martin, the type of hero and heroism is clearly visible; we’re looking at a willing hero. The face and the posture say it all. His face is stoic, his facial muscles firm, but not cramped. His mouth and lips are firmly closed. He is clearly a determined man.

At the same time, Kennington captures the gentler signs of the man. His overall figure seems to be slim and tall. He’s not a large, muscular poster boy, but an ordinary British citizen in the service. His eyes look out almost melancholically or romantically into the distance.

He expresses determination, an awareness of duty towards his country, but also a romantic soul and we can therefore sense he probably has a taste for adventure.

It is to the artist’s credit that he manages to convey such a large number of character traits within one portrait. Stoker A. Martin is a man of action. We do not need to see him in action to understand this. We know just by looking at him. In his biography of Kennington, Black describes the success the painting had during the first WAAC exhibition which was held in the National Gallery in July 1940. The editor of The Studio magazine:

“Stoker Martin is one of the most outstanding pictures on display […] a sympathetic portrait magnificently expressing courage, hardihood and dog-like devotion to duty […]

41 BLACK, Jonathan. The Face of Courage: Eric Kennington, Portraiture and the Second World War. First Edition. London: Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd, 2011, ISBN 9780856677052, page 27. 42

War art should convey the greatness and sordidness of war, the heroism and grim determination of the people.”42

Not every criticism was however positive. Foss mentions comments raised by several critics, who called the portrait too masculine and too frightening. Foss however disagrees. “Kennington’s likenesses reinvested war art with its traditional bravado and heroism by transferring those qualities from physically and psychologically ungraspable battle scenes to the intensely personal realm of portraiture.” 43

In the end, the fact, that the commission reproduced the portrait as a postcard (which was quite rare), speaks to the quality of the painting. Based on the description I presented and the reception of the painting, I’m inclined to say, that the painting is much more a representation of an individual and heroism, than a standard portrait of a typical British sailor.

42 BLACK, Jonathan. The Face of Courage: Eric Kennington, Portraiture and the Second World War, page 29. 43 FOSS, Brian. War Paint: Art, War, State and Identity in Britain 1939-1945, page 150. 43

Lieutenant-Commander C.E. Bridgman DSO by William Dring

William Dring, Lieutenant Commander C.E. Bridgman D.S.O., 1943, pastel on paper, 31,0 x 40,0 cm, National Maritime Museum.

Another well-known military portraitist of the war era is undoubtedly William Dring. In Art and the War at Sea, Melane Vandenbrouck offers a comparison between Dring and Kennington:

“If pastels by William Dring (1904-90) do not have the starling presence of those of Kennington, what sets them apart is their informality and human concern.”44

As I shall expand on later in the chapter, C. E. Bridgman seems to be much more relaxed than A. Martin. Vandernbrouck then continues and cites one of the period reviews of Dring’s work:

44 VANDENBROUCK, Melanie. The Face of War: Officers and Ratings. In RIDING, Christine et al. Art and the War at Sea. First Edition. London: Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, 2015, ISBN 9781848221680, page 58. 44

“His (Dring’s) sitters have a more quiet breathing look than have Kennington’s, being not heroic type but plain men and women in uniforms, and it is Dring’s compassion and sensitivity to their character that gives his portraits a distinctively personal and genuine aura.”45

I disagree with the second statement. I think Dring’s subjects are displaying the heroic type in the same way as Kennington’s. They just accomplish this in slightly different ways. Let us look at two random portraits by the same artists. On the left is Leading Seaman Dove of HMS ‘Hardy’ by Kennington, on the right is Petty Officer Augustus William Armishaw by Dring.

Eric Kennington, Portrait of Leading Seaman Dove of HMS Hardy, 1940, pastel on paper, 69,0 x 93,5 cm, National Maritime Museum.

William Dring, P.O. [Petty Officer] A.W. Armishaw, DSM and bar, 1943, pastel on paper, 50,6 x 98,5 cm, National Maritime Museum.

In my view, the subjects in both the portraits represent the willing hero and demonstrate imperial heroism. In Kennington’s art, however, his subjects look more determined. The subtle, tragic aspects in the sitter’s look and the elements of melancholy are missing in Dring’s works, and a sense of adventure steps in. The same kind of adventure I refer to when talking about imperial heroism.

45 VANDENBROUCK, Melanie. The Face of War: Officers and Ratings, page 58. 45

As many of the following analyses will show, very often when looking for heroism we need to evaluate not only the painting itself and its formal qualities, but we also have to consider the story behind it.

Clement Edward Bridgman enjoyed a successful but, unfortunately, short career as a lieutenant-commander. He first served on HMS Dianthus from January 1941 to November 1942. He was then transferred to HMS Itchen, which sank in September 1943 after it was hit by a German torpedo, with Bridgman and other 227 men on board. By that time, Bridgman was in command of the ship.

A closer inspection of Bridgman’s face reveals the imperial heroism he displays in its purest form. His eyes look at the viewer with self-confidence and there is a playful twinkle in his eyes, as Vandenbrouck points out.46

Another sign that Bridgman had a sense for adventure can be seen in his forehead. A strand of hair falls slightly onto his forehead, usually signalling a ‘bad boy’ nature, which is very much typical to the modern British literary heroes. Unlike in the case of Kennington’s sailor, Bridgman has a completely relaxed face and he is enjoying his pipe which rests casually in his mouth.

Moving on to the rest of the portrait, his hands lay firmly, yet again casually on the railing. He is facing the observer straight on. The fact that his body is leaning entirely forwards towards

46 VANDENBROUCK, Melanie. The Face of War: Officers and Ratings, page 60. 46 the viewer could be interpreted as meaning that this man faces problems in a “head on” fashion.

To summarize, when considering not only the portrait itself, but also the man’s fate, we have the impression he would not have backed away, even when facing the end. If we return again to Price’s book:

“For the imperial adventurer, heroism was something which, arguably, was actively sought out and indeed performed, as it provides an inevitable and desirable part of their endeavours and one that represented a necessary accomplishment on their ascendency to greatness.”47

Lieutenant Commander Clement Edward Bridgman D.S.O. seems to be the living manifestation of the imperial heroism Price was writing about and Dring’s well-crafted portrait does him justice.

47 PRICE, John. Everyday Heroism: Victorian Constructions of the Heroic Civilian, page 12. 47

Lieutenant Commander Stephen Halden Beattie by Lieutenant John Worsley

John Worsley, Lieutenant Commander Stephen Halden Beattie, 1944, oil on canvas, 63,5 x 76,2 cm, National Maritime Museum.

The third portraitist, whose work for the WAAC I would like to highlight in my thesis, is Lieutenant John Worsley. He was unique among the wartime artists for a number of reasons.

Firstly, he joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in 1939 and started sending his drawings which recorded daily life at sea to the WAAC. The drawing Dressing on Northern Patrol brought him the desired attention. Vanderbrouck describes Worsley’s early work in the following way: “His drawings record life at sea, with many concentrating on mess-deck scenes, while others give a sense of wartime dangers, however great or small.”48

48 VANDENBROUCK, Melanie. From Service to Captivity: The Artist as Eyewitness, page 111. 48

John Worsley, Dressing on Northern Patrol, 1939-1940, graphite on paper, 26,2 x 25,4 cm, Imperial War Museum.

Secondly, Worsley was appointed an official war artist in 1943, making him one of the youngest war artists ever (he was born in 1929). The WAAC was very happy with his field work and correctly assumed he would be the right person for producing combat images.

He also holds the record for being the only official war artist ever to be captured by the Germans, which coincidentally happened that same year in 1943 (the other artists were usually killed). He was then held in the Marlag und Milag Nord prison camp. Even after being captured Worsley drew every day, recording daily life in captivity. There he met the subject of this painting, Lieutenant Commander Stephen Halden Beattie, a war hero of the famous St. Nazaire raid. Beattie was commanding the obsolescent US cruiser HMS Campbeltown, which was given to the British by the Americans. Beattie was tasked with getting the ship into the St Nazaire docks and sink it there, with additional commandoes destroying the rest of the harbour. The mission was very successful, but unfortunately Beattie failed to reach the evacuation boat and was captured by the Germans.49

49 Royal Museums Greenwich [online]. Last Revision 15. 3. 2019 [cit. 15. 3. 2019]. Available from: . 49

When we look at the way Worsley captured Beattie in his portrait from 1944, it is hard to imagine it was painted in a prison camp. The background is featureless, as is the case for most portraits so that the subject comes forward, while Beattie in no way resembles a prisoner.

As in the previous two portraits, Beattie demonstrates stoicism. However, the first few portraits were painted in the mainly safe environment of home, while Beattie’s portrait was created in a German prison camp.

If we look away for a moment from Beattie’s achievements and analyse heroism only in terms of what we see in the painting, two words come to mind: personal restraint. Beattie is a man who has obviously not been broken down by imprisonment. He looks confident. The sideways glance towards Worsley is almost that of a happy, self-assured man who knows he has done a good job. His lips are firmly closed, the viewer can notice a slight smile. Looking at his face gives the viewer a good feeling.

Beattie is dressed in his uniform; his hair is combed and his hands are clean. There is a dignity and proudness in being a member of the British Navy.

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His hands are again sending a message of confidence, clasping each other on his lap. Overall, Beattie was sending a message. Not only to the British people not to worry about him, but also to the Germans who imprisoned him, that he will not be broken down. Therein lies the heroism of Lieutenant Commander Stephen Halden Beattie.

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Final Notes

These three portraits show us no signs of nervousness, they leave the viewer with a confident feeling that these people are determined, facing the problems right away, head on, and that they will never back out, even if it means paying the highest price. The message in these images resonated and still resonates strongly, as the way they were received has been well documented and mentioned in this analysis.

Fire areas in a portrait are always highlighted which tell us the most about heroism: the eyes, facial muscles, posture, look and (if visible) hands. These are the five key elements that help us the most when analysing heroism in portraits.

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4.3. War Machine Landscapes: The Glorification of British Industry

Naturally, we usually associate heroism with people. In the case of art, this is with figurative painting. But in wartime art this is not always the case. Modern military conflicts cannot only be won by people. Tools and machines are also essential.

Even today when you read government memoranda, like the National Defence Strategy of the United States written by the former secretary of defence, James Mattis, there is an emphasis not only on the necessity of producing new technology, but the need to speed up the process of putting them into operation.50 The use of technology has always been a key element in winning wars.

Military portraits did not allow for a modernistic portrayal and relied heavily on tradition. However, this is the first subchapter where I am going to show that this did not apply to other types of wartime paintings. I have selected two landscapes – one realistic and one modernist – in order to demonstrate the two types of heroism.

50 U.S. Department of Defence [online]. Summary of the 2018 National Defence Strategy of The United States of America by Secretary James Mattis. Last Revision February 2018 [cit. 15. 4. 2019]. Available from: . 53

Convoy to Russia by Charles Pears

Charles Pears, Convoy to Russia, 1942, oil on canvas, 143,4 x 97,2 cm, National Maritime Museum.

A British merchant ship forging its way through ice to the Russian port of Murmansk. In order to define heroism, once again, it’s crucial to look at the story behind the painting. In Art and the War at Sea, John Graves describes the dangers the merchant ships had to face: “The Second World War was the British merchant service’s darkest time. At sea, U-boats were able to operate from the coasts of enemy-occupied France and Norway as well as Germany”51 We should also consider that fact that aircraft had become a much greater threat to ships than ever before. They were faster, more accurate and their guns had longer range.

51 GRAVES, John. White Ensigns and Red Dusters: The Royal and Merchant Navies in Wartime. In RIDING, Christine et al. Art and the War at Sea. First Edition. London: Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, 2015, ISBN 9781848221680, page 122. 54

It is, therefore, no surprise that most merchant ships travelled in convoys, protected by Naval escorts.

Charles Pears (1873–1958) was a very formidable painter when it came to portraying naval subjects as he had gained much experience as an official artist during the First World War. If we look at some of his other paintings, for example, Sinking of the Scharnhorst, 26 December 1943; another painting he did for the WAAC, it is easy to see where the heroism lies.

Charles Pears, Sinking of the Scharnhors, 26 December 1943, 1944, oil on canvas, 101x6 x 152,4 cm, National Maritime Museum.

Pearce excelled at depicting the vastness of the sea and its dangers. Whether looking at Sinking of the Scharnhorst, or Convoy to Russia, we can see that the sea is the real challenge for the subjects of his painting – the valiant ships.

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“The intense cold and incredibly violent seas are indicated by the encrustation of ice that has formed on the ship’s bow and superstructure.”52 When we look at the paintings of British authors from the times of Romanticism and the Industrial Revolution, there’s a long naval tradition apparent in the British arts. In some way, ships are portrayed as living creatures with character. This is another example of imperial heroism expressed in the durability of the ship and the determination of the crew to survive even the most extreme conditions.

52 GRAVES, John. White Ensigns and Red Dusters: The Royal and Merchant Navies in Wartime, page 123. 56

Battle of Britain by Paul Nash

Paul Nash, Battle of Britain, 1941, oil on canvas, 206,0 x 148,0 cm, Imperial War Museum.

One of the most famous British paintings from the Second World War from 1941 was created after Paul Nash’s contract with the WAAC was abruptly terminated against Kenneth Clark’s wishes. As was mentioned in a previous chapter, the RAF officials were not very pleased with Clark’s modernist tendencies.

Year later, Clark managed convince the committee to order new works from Nash on the theme of aerial battles, which was when Battle of Britain was painted – a testament to the British victory over Nazi Germany.

Nash’s painting clearly separates the foreground and background, and draws a contrast between the European continent already seized by Nazi Germany and Britain, still fighting for its survival.

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The dangerous-looking Luftwaffe planes are slowly approaching the British coastline and dark clouds cover the other side of the channel. Over Britain, the sky is bright blue as pilots rapidly fly around with white vapour trails behind them. Here, Nash draws another contrast between Britain and the Nazi Germany. Luftwaffe planes are flying in strict and geometrical formation. Based on the vapour trails, RAF pilots fly in a much more organic and natural fashion, so that the trails behind them, could very well remind the viewer of flowers.

The German fighters, on the other hand, are falling into the sea with black vapour trails.

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When we explore the bottom of the painting, we see a nicely curved river winding to the sea and more planes approaching the centre of the battle.

What we see here is an allegory, not a literal depiction. It captures the enormity of Britain’s fight against Nazi Germany. The painting works with features that capture the entirety of the struggle – menacing enemy fighters, vapour trails and so on.53

The official description in the Imperial War Museum describes Nash’s change in attitude towards the war and what the painting represented to him:

“Nash, a fierce critic of the way that fighting on the Western Front of the First World War had been conducted, was immediate and steadfast in his revulsion towards Nazi

53 MCCLOSKEY, Barbara. Artists of World War II (Artists of an Era), page 81. 59

Germany and its culture. In the painting, defences rise up as if out of the very landscape of England to meet the fascistic machines of war.”54

It is little wonder that this painting became so successful. Nash managed to utilize modernism in a simple and impressive way, which clearly sends out a propaganda message, highlights the imperial heroism of the RAF pilots, all without sacrificing any of his artistic style and quality.

54 Imperial War Museum [online]. Battle of Britain. Last Revision 20. 4. 2019 [cit. 20. 4. 2019]. Available from: < https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/20102>. 60

4.4. Battlefield Landscapes: Heroes in Action

The third subchapter of my analysis examines the heroism of people in action, on the battlefield. The distinction between this and the previous subchapter might not be obvious at first sight. When we look at large landscapes, it is hard to find the focus of the picture. But the focus proves to be crucial when describing heroism. In the previous subchapter, I was looking at paintings which focused solely on the technology used in the battle more than it did on the people wielding it. Here however, we will be looking at two opposite cases, two landscapes, which are about the people in them more than they are about the technology.

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The Withdrawal from Dunkirk by Charles Cundall

Charles Cundall, The Withdrawal from Dunkirk, June 1940, oil on canvas, 101,9 x 152,4 cm, Imperial War Museum.

The Withdrawal from Dunkirk was produced in June 1940 and it was one of the most celebrated paintings from the early days of the WAAC. The image is an example of the everyday heroism of ordinary people. A heroism within chaos.

Cundall (1890–1971) painted this landscape in retrospect from photographs and his own imagination as part of his short-term contract with the WAAC. According to Foss, after his contract expired, he served as an official artist for the Admiralty (1940–1941) and later as an Air Ministry artist (1941–1945).55

For the purposes of this diploma thesis, it is unnecessary to retell the famous story of Dunkirk in great length. The evacuation of British troops from the French coast across the English Channel took place between 27 May and 4 June 1940. The Germans were advancing quickly and there were not enough ships for the stranded soldiers. Therefore, smaller boats belonging

55 FOSS, Brian. War Paint: Art, War, State and Identity in Britain 1939-1945, page 197.

62 to ordinary people and fishermen sailed from all over the coast of Britain to help with the evacuation. Within almost two weeks, they managed to save around 250,00 British and 140,000 French troops.

The left side of the painting depicts sand dunes with long lines of soldiers waiting for their turn – either to board one of the ships or die getting hit by a German grenade, which can be seen exploding in the distance along with huge smoke rising to the sky. The background of this particular landscape helps to create a sense of urgency.

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In contrast, the second half of the painting has a light blue background, emphasizing the hope for the soldiers. Under the menacing clouds, everyday heroism is happening. Civilians are filling their boats with as many soldiers as they can in order to get them to safety.

In the skies above, an aerial battle is happening, with British fighters trying to hold out and destroy the Germans to ensure a safe evacuation.

McCloskey comments on the heroism in the painting, saying that Cundall managed to turn an objective defeat into a testament of bravery, everyday heroism: “By focusing attention on the wide variety of sailing craft that hastily pitched in to assist the evacuation, Cundall’s work fulfilled its propagandist purpose by transforming defeat into a testament of national resourcefulness and resolve in the face of adversity.”56

Everyday heroism is expressed not by the faces of individual people, but rather by the chaotic nature of the situation portrayed.

56 MCCLOSKEY, Barbara. Artists of World War II (Artists of an Era), page 73. 64

The Withdrawal from Dunkirk by Cundall was certainly not the only painting on the subject. Another one with the same title was by Richar Eurich, another WAAC artist. Both landscapes were exhibited next to each other at the National Gallery in August 1940.

Richard Eurich, The Withdrawal from Dunkirk, 1940, oil on canvas, 76,2 x 101,6 cm, National Maritime Museum.

Brian Foss offers a very detailed description of the painting: “Eurich’s version is a beautiful combination of symmetry and chaos, detail and compositional expansiveness, clarity and commotion.” According to Foss, Kenneth Clark preferred Eurich’s version to Cundall’s, saying that Eurich managed to reconstruct a scene out of secondary materials without losing the pictorial effect.57

Foss also mentions some criticism of Cundall’s version, saying that it feels crammed and has too much detail.

However, I believe that the claustrophobic feeling of Cundall’s version captures the essence of the situation much more accurately than Eurich’s more realistic version. At that moment the soldiers felt trapped, they had nowhere to run. Cundall’s painting creates a feeling of imminent danger, thereby also highlighting the heroism.

57 FOSS, Brian. War Paint: Art, War, State and Identity in Britain 1939-1945, pages 131 and 132. 65

The Drop by Albert Richards

Albert Richards, The Drop, 1944, oil on panel, 54,9 x 75,3 cm, Imperial War Museum.

Albert Richards was one of the three unlucky artists killed during the Second World War. As Foss points out, most of the WAAC artists either produced paintings from a distance or naval subjects. The WAAC and the Ministry of Information needed more action, someone who was in the middle of it. Richards was ideal. There were very few artists like him (the aforementioned John Worsley was another rare example) who were young (Richards was born in 1919) and who were in active service.58

Richards was a first sapper with the Royal engineers, 59th Antrim Parachute Squadron, who accepted a six-month contract with the WAAC in 1943, He parachuted into Normandy in June 1944, where he later died when he drove his Jeep into a minefield.59

The Drop was painted in March 1944, depicting a parachute exercise in Oxfordshire, prior to D-Day. In this case, the subjects are as important as the landscape. According to Foss:

58 FOSS, Brian. War Paint: Art, War, State and Identity in Britain 1939-1945, page 125. 59 Tate [online]. Albert Richards. Last Revision 20. 4. 2019 [cit. 20. 4. 2019]. Available from: . 66

“Richards combines visual urgency and sophisticated design sensibility to convey the immediacy of combat and the turmoil of events.”60

The observer can definitely see the sense of urgency, the soldiers running immediately after landing, clearing the ground for others, or continuing with the exercise. We never see their faces, to us, they are only silhouettes, anonymous heroes. The yellow/orange sunset suggests, in my view, the awaiting destiny (in this case the D-Day) and the impending danger that all of these people will soon face. This is another manifestation of the willing hero and imperial heroism.

60 FOSS, Brian. War Paint: Art, War, State and Identity in Britain 1939-1945, pages 127. 67

Final Notes

In these two subchapters we have seen a number of landscape paintings which either focus on machines or on the people using those machines.

Wartime landscapes are often faced with criticism. According to Monica Bohm-Duchen, they serve to a certain extent as a “diversionary tactic to avoid confronting the realities of war.”61 Artists adopting aesthetic approaches which turn battles into panoramic and dramatic spectacles. As a typical example, she refers to two paintings I have mentioned in my analysis – The Drop by Albert Richards and Richard Eurich’s Evacuation of Dunkirk.

Even though landscapes by their very nature are supposed to give us a distance between the subject and the viewer, we have still seen examples where this is not necessarily true. Examples, when we can easily imagine ourselves within the chaos that is happening in front of us.

61 BOHM-DUCHEN, Monica. Art and the Second World War. First Edition. London: Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd., 2013, ISBN 9781848220331, page 46. 68

4.5. The Home Front: The Daily Sacrifices of the ‘Common Folk’

In this subchapter, I shall analyse two paintings depicting the home front and ordinary people contributing to the war effort. Again, I will be looking for specific types of heroes and heroism and whether there are any common elements in the techniques used and the subject matter. As in previous subchapters, I have chosen paintings which were acquired by the WAAC, had certain public response and offer a challenging way to discover heroism within them.

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Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech-Ring by Laura Knight

Laura Knight, Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring, 1943, oil on canvas, 86,3 x 101,9 cm, Imperial War Museum.

The official commentary of the Imperial War Museum tells the real story of Ruby Loftus. Apparently, Ruby managed to carry out “complex engineering skills in a very short space of time.”62 She was working at the Royal Ordnance Factory in New Port, doing a job which normally required up to nine years of training. Ruby was 21 at the time, so her position in the factory was considered highly controversial. Laura Knight was commissioned to paint a portrait and to her surprise it was not supposed to be a studio portrait, but rather a painting of Ruby at work in the factory. To this day, it is one of the most famous British paintings from the Second World War. It is mentioned on Laura Knight’s official website that “the work was popular amongst industrialists and on Ferranti asking for a copy of the work to be hung in their factory, the WAAC decided to produce a poster version of the picture.”63

At that point, Laura Knight was famous for painting brave women and showing their heroism in wartime Britain; for example, the well-known painting Corporal J. D. M. Pearson, GC,

62 Imperial War Museum [online]. Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring. Last Revision 20. 1. 2019 [cit. 20. 1. 2019]. Available from: < https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/15504>. 63 Dame Laura Knight [online]. Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring. Last Revision 20. 1. 2019 [cit. 20. 1. 2019]. Available from: . 70

WAAF. Joan Daphne Mary Pearson was awarded the George Cross medal for saving a pilot from the wreckage of an aircraft in May 1940.

Laura Knight, Corporal J.D.M. Pearson, GC, WAAF, 1940, oil on canvas, 60,9 x 91,4 cm, Imperial War Museum.

However, the painting of Ruby Loftus is different in many aspects from Knight’s other paintings. It conveys two distinct messages, one relating to heroism and one to the glorification of British industry. The painting’s foreground consists of two distinct parts. The right side of the painting provides us with a detailed look at the factory machine and the tools, while the left side focuses on Ruby.

Archive footage of the paintings by the Imperial War Museum gives us a look at the original machine which the painting was based on. Even the blurry film reel shows that the machine has been portrayed extremely faithfully and is precise to the smallest detail.

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I have already described the story of Ruby Loftus and the fact that Laura Knight focused her work on portraying brave women. The interpretation of heroism in this painting is quite different from Knight’s previous portraits. Here heroism lies in the fact that Ruby is neither qualified nor prepared for this job – the unwilling, everyday hero. This is emphasised by a number of visual elements in the image.

First, let us examine the position of Ruby’s body. She is portrayed in profile, leaning to the front, which is a traditional sign of determination, as is the way in which her sleeves are rolled up. The uniform Ruby wears seems to be slightly larger than the standard fit. It is obviously meant to be worn by a much stronger and larger person than Ruby.

There are also no attempts in the picture to downplay Ruby’s feminine qualities. Her bust is clearly visible as are the cheek lines and her petite nose. The hands in the painting, especially on closer inspection, are not the hands of a skilled worker, yet they firmly (but not rigidly) rest on the equipment.

Ruby is also obviously someone who cares about her looks. If we look at her face, her eyebrows are highlighted and the curls in her hair are clearly visible. At the same time, there is no smile, but a determined, focused look at the task in front of her.

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The background of the painting shows other women doing similar jobs, with only one man among them, who is probably unfit for service. The fact that only Ruby wears a green net in her hair and the other women have a red scarf is a nice visual detail. Ruby wears her scarf around her neck.

As we can observe, the ‘feminist subtext’, is quite different from what we would see today. There are no attempts to make Ruby look more masculine. She is a woman doing a man’s job. She replaced someone much stronger and experienced. Therein lies the heroism of Ruby Loftus. It is obvious that a woman of 21 should not be working in a factory, making war machines. But the fact that Ruby put aside her normal job, studies, or family duties and went to a factory every day and worked hard to deliver the necessary equipment for the men abroad, this is what makes her a hero.64 During the wartime in Britain, women were seen as unwilling heroes involved in everyday heroism65. Even though Laura Knight was the most famous woman painter to reflect that in her work, I can at least mention other names, such as Evelyn Gibbs, Rupert Shephard, or Vivian Pitchforth. All of them portrayed women doing tough and heroic work. Someone worth highlighting for the citizens of Britain. Someone they could look up to.

64 “By 1943, 7.25 million women, including fully eighty percent of those with children older than fourteen years, were engaged in war-related employment.” FOSS, Brian. War Paint: Art, War, State and Identity in Britain 1939-1945, page 80. 65 Again, this is in direct contrast with the Nazi Germany, where propaganda encouraged women to stay at home. 73

A House Collapsing on Two Firemen, Shoe Lane, London, EC4 by Leonard Rosoman

Leonard Rosoman A House Collapsing on Two Firemen, Shoe Lane, London EC4, 1940, oil on canvas, 91,4 x 76,2 cm, Imperial War Museum.

A House Collapsing on Two Firemen offers an entirely different perspective on the everyday hero. The painting by Leonard Rosoman includes a tragic element; the impending death of both protagonists. Rosoman created his picture in 1941, during the height of the Blitz. According to the official brochure of the Imperial War Museum dedicated to the Second World War, Rosoman was a member of the Auxiliary Fire Service and began painting images of what he had witnessed in the course of his service. Later, in 1945, he became an official war artist, documenting the activities of the British Pacific Fleet overseas. Even though his later work is outstanding, A House Collapsing on Two Firemen remains to this day his most famous painting. The incident occurred on the night of 29 December 1940 just as Rosoman was relieved from service that evening.66 Again, the story behind the painting proves to be crucial in understanding and defining the heroism in the image.

It is obvious why the painting was acquired by the WAAC. It clearly stands out from the others thanks to its neo-romantic qualities. In other words, it portrays and captures a terrifying moment in time in the most beautiful and detailed way; a building animated by destruction.

66 IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM. Art from the Second World War. First Edition. London: Imperial War Museum, 2007, ISBN 9781904897665. 74

Rosoman was apparently haunted by this scene as he witnessed the situation with his own eyes. The fact that he was able to recreate a falling building with such craftsmanship and an eye for detail is worth highlighting.

The success of the painting lies not only in its formal qualities, but also in the emotions it conveys. What exactly has Rosoman done to make viewer become so easily immersed in the picture?

The first important element is the mood that the painting creates. Stuart Sillars describes the tonality, which is crucial to the overall atmosphere of the scene depicted:

“The whole of the painting is in a single tonality which ranges from the blood-orange, frame-lit foreground to more distant shadows of sombre brown, giving it both the emotional impact of this very rich colouration and a concentration of tone usually found only in photographs.”67

Even though the scenery depicted is large, the viewer still gets an almost claustrophobic feeling of confined space, which is a result of the narrow street and the immense number of bricks which are about to hit the two small figures.

67 SILLARS, Stuart. British Romantic Art and the Second World War. Revised Edition (Originally published in 1991). London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, ISBN 9781349099207, page 84.

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Notice the detail of the wall hitting the opposite building; debris exploding in every direction, with large amounts of dust forming around it. There is a certain dynamism to be found, both in the falling debris and in the figures of firemen, still holding their hose.

Lindsey Robb also offers an interesting insight into what the painting represents in his book Men at Work: The Working Man in British Culture:

“Both the dramatic colours used and the way the wall appears to be exploding towards the viewer makes it a very striking image. The men, and their terrible fate, are much the focus of this image, highlighting the dangers faced and the very high price often paid by the men of the fire brigades, both of which were paralleled by the experiences of the armed services.”68

Even though the subject matter of the painting is tragic, it still contains heroism. It should be pointed out that subjects in this painting are not tragic heroes (apparently, one of the firemen, a writer named William Sanson, survived the destruction) but rather willing heroes, doing everyday heroic deeds, knowing fully well that it could all end suddenly. The painting is the portrayal of an image imprinted in Rosoman’s mind and a tribute to the bravery of his colleagues. A great deal of bravery was indeed required as going into these heavily damaged areas of London required an enormous amount of courage. The Londoners who saw this picture could easily image themselves in that situation which gave the heroism even greater impact.

68 ROBB, Linsey. Men at Work: The Working Man in British Culture, 1939-1945 (Genders and Sexualities in History). First Edition. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, ISBN 9781137527462.

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The painting does everything the WAAC hoped to achieve. It provides a record of a specific event and there is a powerful heroic story behind it.

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Final Notes

To conclude this subchapter, when we look at these two very different examples of art portraying everyday heroism, a number of common examples can be found. Both paintings work with a high level of realism, they use techniques to make them look more dynamic, and their main purpose is not necessarily to serve as high art, but rather as a well-crafted image; a vessel to spread the real powerful story behind it. Everything is subordinated to the story. Every element of the painting.

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PART THREE

5. Motion Pictures – Feature Films

5.1. Chapter Introduction

The penultimate chapter of this thesis focuses on two feature films.

It is little wonder that films became crucial part of the state’s propaganda during the war and celebrated unprecedented success among audiences. Looking at a painting in an art gallery is a transcendental and immersive experience for only a handful of people who know how to process it mentally. Seeing a film in a darkened room, watching a story unfold in a straightforward fashion on the big screen is something much more appealing to the majority of audiences, especially when their daily lives and routines are shattered by war. It is the easiest way to detach yourself from reality, and/or to make sense of it. Among other things, British propaganda films reflected the meaning of the war and boosted morale. Another reason for such success might be the simple fact that British films had always rivalled Hollywood in terms of production value and general quality.

Going to the cinema became an essential activity for British citizens during wartime. Mark Glancy once again offers detailed information about cinema-going during the war. In 1940, ticket sales went up to just over 1 billion for the year and they continued to rise for the next few years and reached the incredible number of 1.5 billion in 1943, 1944 and 1945.69 Of course, it is important to consider the average ticket price, which rose during the war because of the entertainment tax. But even allowing for this fact, the number of ticket sales is incredible. It is even more astounding considering the decline in film production:

“Some 103 long films were registered as being of British origin for 1939 […] (228 films had been registered the year before). But during the ensuing war years domestic film production averaged just 69 films per year, with 108 films being registered as British in the best year, 1940, and 46 in the worst, 1942.”70

69 GLANCY, Mark. Going to the pictures: British cinema and the Second World War. In Past and Future, University of London: School of Advanced Study, October 2010, page 7. 70 CHAPMAN, James. The British at War: Cinema, State and Propaganda, 1939-45 (Cinema and Society), page 2.

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The pattern of film distribution had also gone through major changes – old films were re- issued, and each new film had a significantly longer cinema run. Further statistics prove that cinema-going had become essential for British citizens during the war.

“The Wartime Social Survey conducted in 1943, found that 32% of Britons went to the cinema frequently (defined as once a week or more) and another 38% attended occasionally (defined as one a fortnight or less), but 30% of the population never visited the cinema at all.”71

Then the analysis goes further, observing that mostly low-income young people from the cities went to see films (with gender not being an important factor). Even though this information is not crucial for my thesis, it explains why films were so important for the government. The demographic groups which visited the cinema most often were also the same groups least likely to read newspapers or books. Glancy again writes:

“The cinema offered means of reaching them (low class) and reaching them through a medium that was considered powerfully influential and persuasive.”72

It is also crucial to mention the fact that pre-war British films were popular mainly with the middle class, while the lower-income classes preferred mainly Hollywood films. This makes sense since traditional Hollywood films offered escapism and optimism, which is something the lower classes needed.

Glancy states, that: “It was in the second half of the war that truly British films began to win the hearts and minds of both critics and audiences on a regular basis.”73

The importance of the British film industry during the war was undeniable. If ticket sales and its popularity among people are not good enough reasons in themselves to include it in my thesis, then there is one more – an artistic one – as pointed out by Michael Brooke in his essay for BFI Screen Online.

According to Brooke, the 1940s could be considered Britain’s greatest film decade. As evidence, he refers to the BFI’s pool of the one hundred best British films in 1999 and according to that pool, sixteen were from the 1940s.

71 GLANCY, Mark. Going to the pictures: British cinema and the Second World War. In Past and Future, University of London: School of Advanced Study, October 2010, page 8. 72 GLANCY, Mark. Going to the pictures: British cinema and the Second World War, page 8. 73 GLANCY, Mark. Going to the pictures: British cinema and the Second World War, page 9. 80

“Not only was this heyday of David Lean, (Michael) Powell & (Emeric) Pressburger, Ealing comedy and Gainsborough melodrama, over a billion tickets were sold each year, hitting an all-time peak of 1.6 billion in 1946. A tenth of that number would be considered a success today.”74

This quote not only points out the success of wartime films during their own time, but also their timeless quality and popularity, and thus their artistic value. Many of Britain’s renowned directors became popular during the period of wartime film production, two in particular. Almost everyone interested in film history knows David Lean (the co-director of In Which We Serve), who later became famous with his Academy Award winning epic films such as The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), or Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago (1965). The same applies to Carol Reed (the director of Night Train to Munich) who just a few years after the war made The Third Man (1949), one of the most influential thrillers of all time, set in post-war Vienna, starring Orson Welles, and later in 1959 adapted the famous novel by Graham Greene, Our Man in Havana, starring Sir Alec Guinness.

As I have already mentioned in the introduction, there is a reason why I have chosen to include films in this thesis and why I have chosen two films in particular. Since the methodology of my thesis is iconographical and iconological analyses, it is only logical to choose films which were made by famous, well-received directors, and are therefore known for their visual qualities and visual storytelling. Both Carol Reed (the director of Night Train to Munich) and David Lean (the co-director of In Which We Serve) were known for their ability to tell stories through pictures. In the simplest terms, quality visual storytelling basically means you can turn off the sound and still understand the story merely by watching the action in front of you.

As the introduction to this chapter suggests, the majority of British wartime films fall into my criteria for including them in my thesis. However, again I had to choose only two pieces of the puzzle, simply because of the limitations of this work.

The ‘two pieces’ I have selected for my thesis are In Which We Serve, a film by Noel Coward and David Lean which represents films focusing on ordinary people and the naval strength of Britain, and Night Train to Munich, a film by Carol Reed, representing the adventure,

74 BFI Screen Online [online]. British Film in the 1940s by Michael Brooke. Last Revision 14. 1. 2019 [cit. 14. 1. 2019]. Available from: . 81 romantic and spy genre of war films. Two different films showing different types of heroism, channelled to audiences through a simple visual language.

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5.2. In Which We Serve from 1942

The story of In Which We Serve begins with two people – Noel Coward and David Lean.

Coward, a famous English playwright, composer and songwriter, was the one who devised the idea for a propaganda film. He was well known across Britain for his ironic humour, which he also brought into the propaganda materials. One famous example is Coward’s controversial song from 1943, called Don’t Let’s Be Beastly to the Germans. “It was intended as a satire on those wanting soft treatment for the enemy; it was taken instead as an endorsement of that policy and raised a storm of protest.”75 Coward’s humour sometimes proved to be too much sophisticated for the general public.

The key element for the success of In Which We Serve is undoubtedly its co-director and co- editor (although not credited as editor), David Lean.

As Terrence Rafferty writes in his essay:

“Lean holds shots much longer than you’d expect, barely cutting at all and allowing the movements of the people in the frame to speak for themselves […] It is not, as it so often is in propaganda, just words; it’s the way the sailors move, with calm dispatch, when they’re called to battle stations. […] The words, which are Coward’s, are good ones – and he speaks his own part eloquently – but the images and their serene processions before our eyes are Lean’s. It’s the pictures that tell the story of this ship.”76

And finally, the film begins with the words: “This is a story of a ship.” The ship in question is the HMS Torrin and in the opening minutes of the film we see documentary footage of the ship being built in a dock by a number of workers. The purpose of the opening scene is the same as for some of the paintings described in the previous chapter – to emphasize the hardworking craftsmen and the efficiency of British industry – everyday heroism. The tools to win the war with are as important as the people operating them. Being able to quickly produce high-quality war machines is one of the key aspects in wining any modern war. And how exactly is this portrayed in this scene?

75 CHAPMAN, James. The British at War: Cinema, State and Propaganda, 1939-45 (Cinema and Society), page 188. 76 The Criterion [online]. In Which We Serve: Battle Stations by Terrence Rafferty. Last revision 27. 3. 2012 [cit. 21. 1. 2019]. Available from: < https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2219-in-which-we-serve-battle- stations>. 83

The first thing we should take into account in this scene is the editing. We notice that it is very fast paced. It only takes two minutes to build the ship on screen. It emphasizes the heroism of ordinary people who are able to produce such large machinery in such a short period of time.

We are watching a sequence of shots with workers creating the screw, handing it to each other with pliers and then attaching it to a steel plate. Again the emphasis is on cooperation and the efficiency of production.

The general framing of the shot changes with the perspective. When the shot is from the workers’ point of view, it is usually taken from a low angle, emphasizing the size and magnificence of the ship. This is mixed with close detailed shots of the construction elements.

And finally we have the large shots from high angles, showing groups of small workers finishing what has been shown as a great achievement.

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The film’s plot and story structure revolve around the ship being sank by a German bomber after the first fourteen minutes, during the Battle of Crete. The shots of the ship sinking show another type of heroism, again similar to what we have seen in the paintings. During the bomber attack it is impossible to see any sailor panicking, or not standing his ground. As we see in the following shots, they do not leave the boat until the very last moment.

In its opening minutes the film highlights the strong relationship between the men and the boat. Earlier in the thesis, I’ve shown examples of heroism of military personnel represented in the portraits, but also by the landscapes, where the ships play an important role in the narrative of the painting. This film is a mix of both.

The theme of the film is friendship and values strengthen by the shared experience of serving on the ship. The life at sea is different from the normal army. Theme of the film is also emphasized by something that’s not there. The enemy. Audience never really see any Germans in it. They represent a distant enemy.

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As James Chapman observes: “The hierarchy of class and rank which had been portrayed in earlier naval dramas is still apparent, but here, the narrative links together both officers and men through their shared experiences of service and domestic life.”77 Fine example is the scene, when captain Kinross played by Noel Coward leaves the lifeboat in order to help and ordinary officer in peril.

In the end, it is a film about the fact that no matter what social class you belong to, we are all in this fight together. Noel Coward plays the upper-class Captain Kinross, while the Chief Petty Officer Walter Hardy is played by Bernard Miles, who represents the educated middle class.

77 CHAPMAN, James. The British at War: Cinema, State and Propaganda, 1939-45 (Cinema and Society), page 184. 86

And then there’s John Mills as Shorty Blake, who personalizes the often understated but visible heroism of the working-class soldier.78.

The everyday heroism not only comes from the sailors and officers (who face the impending death in many a cases and even then they manage to keep their humour and optimism), but also from their wives and other members of the families, who have to deal with the consequences of the Blitz and the possibility of never seeing their husbands again.

78 HAVARDI, Jeremy. Projecting Britain at War: The National Character in British World War II Films, page 7. 87

5.3. Night Train to Munich

The story of Night Train to Munich revolves around a Czechoslovakian scientist, Axel Bomasch, who has developed new armour plating. The Nazis want to use his invention and Bomasch has to escape to England. His daughter Anna is apprehended by the Gestapo and sent to a concentration camp near Prague. She is rescued by a fellow prisoner, Karl Marsen, who takes her to England. Marsen, however, turns out to be a Nazi. His goal is to find Axel through Anna, kidnap them and take them back to Germany. Dickie Randall, a British officer, volunteers to go behind enemy lines, posing as an SS major, to save Anna and her father from the Nazis.

Surprisingly, this British war film is not as famous as, for example, In Which We Serve by Nöel Coward & David Lean, or The 49th Parallel by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger. In the books I read in preparation for this thesis, it was mentioned only few times, mostly in relation to some of the actors from the era. This is slightly surprising, considering it was directed by one of the most famous British directors of all time, Carol Reed. This is one of his first films.

I acknowledge that the story of the film is quite straightforward and some of the dialogue might be slightly cringeworthy for today’s audiences. However, the real reason why I am analysing this film is that it has been very cleverly constructed in visual terms. It is built on contrasts. In this short subchapter, I shall describe two of these contrasts within the narrative and visuals.

First, the distinction between Germany and Britain is striking, specifically the locations in the film. In the first view minutes we are introduced to Hitler’s headquarters in Munich with its extravagant, large white architecture, reminiscent of ancient Greek palaces. In contrast, we are also introduced to an unnamed concentration camp, which is located near Prague in the film’s story. The places in Germany are large, empty and clean, or depressing and dirty.

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In contrast to that, when Anna makes her way to Britain with Karl Marsen, the first thing we see are harbours full of life. Ships are everywhere, bars are full of people. Everything is alive.

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When Anna and Dickie Randall have their first conversation in a seaside bar, it looks as if they were in some sort of very exotic location.

The second place where the film draws a contrast between Britain and Germany is the portrayal of its characters – the protagonists and the citizens (supporting cast). In this case, we will see a number of similarities with the paintings I have analysed.

The main contrast is created by the nature of the characters. The German spies hide in the shadows, meeting and operating exclusively at night.

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When we meet one of the protagonists of the film after the first twenty minutes, Dickey Randall, he is dressed in white clothes and signing romantic British folk songs. He changes his outfits frequently over the next five scenes. Even though he is a military officer, he has a sense of style.

Generally, as we see in the scenes following the kidnapping of Alex Bomasch and Ann, even in moments of crisis, British officers are always relaxed and unflappable. We see the same pattern repeated later in the film when we meet the British citizens traveling across Germany in a train.

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Again, this is in direct contrast to the Germans. They are always perfectly straight, walking almost like robots. The Nazis in the film are caricatures of the real ones. At the very beginning of the film, we see Hitler, always angry, punching his fist repeatedly on the table, pointing to the country he wants to take over next.

The best comedy aspects are from the scenes with Dickey undercover trying to pretend to be an SS officer. All of his signature character traits, mainly his relaxed posture, are gone. He is to be a cold, upright Nazi officer.

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Ultimately, Dickey is a willing hero, displaying imperial heroism. He comes up with the plan to save Alex Bomasch and his daughter and he willingly goes into enemy territory. When the plan goes wrong (Alex Bomasch and Ann are suddenly about to be deported to Hitler’s headquarters in Berlin by train), he does not panic, but instead adjusts his plan to the new circumstances. And even while undercover, he never completely manages to get rid of his signature quirky sense of humour.

In the end, in order to appreciate this film, one must look at when it was premiered. It was released in 1940, very early into the war. Even though today some of its tropes may feel slightly forced and clunky at times, it is important to note it was one of the first, if not the first, film of its kind and in some way, it set an example for other wartime films to come.

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PART FOUR

6. Ideology Behind Art – A Comparison Between Britain and Germany

6.1. Chapter Introduction

This final chapter of my thesis is a comparative one. The goal is to briefly explore the different approaches to state propaganda in Britain and Nazi Germany. I have already established that Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler’s views on art could not have been more different. They reflected the ideological tension between two countries. I presented two quotes from Churchill’s speeches, outlining his vision for modern British art, which retains the best of the past, yet always moves forward and experiments. And I also mentioned Hitler, who saw modern art as something which had to be abolished and forbidden. This short chapter will expand upon these ideological contrasts.

Pre-war Britain was full of disparities – in education, wealth and class. How did the country manage to become so united in this time of crisis? This is another question I hope to answer in the final chapter.

So far in this thesis, in terms of propaganda imagery, I have limited my arguments only to the WAAC committee and the works acquired by it or created for it. In order to see the overreaching goals of British propaganda and the philosophy behind it, it is necessary to look away for a moment from the WAAC and its founder Sir Kenneth Clark, as this would limit our view solely to images which are considered high art, and which are naturally the main focus of this thesis. I would like to include all forms of state propaganda in this chapter in order to make my arguments valid.

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6.2. War Propaganda in Britain

Britain was on the winning side of the war. This is an obvious, yet important fact. Britain survived and so too did the propaganda message. As Richard Slocombe points out, some of the slogans from the propaganda of the Second World War have now become deeply rooted in the national consciousness, for example: “Dig for Victory; Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases”, or the most famous one: “Keep Calm and Carry On”. These slogans were mostly distributed as propaganda posters, which remain iconic to this day. “They (the posters) demonstrated that propaganda need not be aggressive or artistically conservative to engage a wide audience, but that subtle humour and Modernist design could be just as persuasive and popular.”79

Of course, the general public was (and always is) rather distrusting of propaganda, based mostly on the experience of the First World War and the manipulative tendencies of these slogans. However, the fact that the propaganda imagery is so popular today and is used in so many ways is testament to its overall quality. In this case, it is not important to consider whether they are remembered fondly or laughed at. What is important is that they are remembered.

The main reason for the timelessness of British propaganda in my view is just the simple fact of Britain being a democracy. Jo Fox strengthens this opinion of mine in her book Film and Propaganda in Britain and Nazi Germany: “A democracy by its very nature and by its very virtues lies wide open to division and uncertainty.”80 Thanks to democracy, we are free to have a discussion, we can criticise, and we can preach almost any doctrine we want within the social structure. In that kind of environment it is very difficult to create propaganda. John Grieson, a famous Scottish filmmaker, who is heavily paraphrased in Fox’s book adds that:

“Instead of propaganda being less necessary in a democracy, it is more necessary. In the authoritarian state, you have powers of compulsion and powers of repression, physical and mental […] It is your democrat who most needs and demands guidance from his leaders.”81

79 SCOLOMBE, Richard. British Posters of the Second World War. First Edition. London: Imperial War Museum, 2010, ISBN 9781904897927, page 1. 80 FOX, Jo. Film Propaganda in Britain and Nazi Germany: World War II Cinema. First Edition. London: Berg Publishers, 2016. ISBN9781859738962, page 304.

81 FOX, Jo. Film Propaganda in Britain and Nazi Germany: World War II Cinema, page 304. 95

British propaganda, by being the propaganda of a democracy and not of totalitarianism, was in its essence not only about mobilizing, but also about reflecting. Brian Foss explains this in his book, where he writes about the general nature of the paintings acquired by the WAAC:

“These were images that allowed them (the people) to locate themselves physically and mentally within the most overwhelming historical event most of them had ever encountered. Like its collection as a whole, the WAAC’s military subjects were less a guide to WWII itself than to the ways people experienced it, compartmentalised their reactions to it and so coped with it.”82

82 FOSS, Brian. War Paint: Art, War, State and Identity in Britain 1939-1945, page 117. 96

5.2. War Propaganda in Germany

We have already established the WAAC’s intention of making propaganda relevant by including modernistic ideas and a certain amount of abstraction in combination with the fine- art tradition. Hitler despised anything new and modern. The reason why Nazi Germany pursued so much classical architecture and artistic style is quite simple – it was meant to endure, or at least create the illusion that it would endure. I have already pointed out Hitler and Churchill’s opposing ideologies, which was visible in their approach to art.

I devoted a large part of my thesis to films because the importance of ‘motion pictures’ was undeniable in the period. Joseph Goebbels, the chief propagandist of Nazi Germany, was aware of this fact, saying that cinema was “one of the most important and far-reaching media that there was for influencing the masses.” The most famous examples of Nazi productions are Triumph of the Will, Jew Suss and Der Ewigle Jude. These films stressed the superiority of the Aryan race and vilified Jews, Slavs and Communists.83

In the case of fine art, McCloskey traces the influences back to the 1890s: “Germany’s Royal Academy of Arts schooled students in the great artistic traditions of the past, above all those of ancient Greece and Rome and the Italian Renaissance.”84 Students were thoroughly trained to replicate those traditions. This can be clearly seen in Hans Schmitz-Wiedenbrück’s painting Workers, Soldiers, Farmers from 1941, or the depiction of the attack on France by Paul Mathias Padua from 1940.

According to McCloskey, students were also educated in chemistry and anatomy in order to understand the human body to the slightest detail. German imperial art served as a pretext for Hitler to tear down everything that art produced during the Weimar years in the 1920s, i.e. Modernism.85

After Hitler gained power in 1933, one of the first institutions he ordered to be closed was Bauhaus. “Modern artists were also summarily removed from their teaching posts at the nation’s academies of art”.86

83 HAVARDI, Jeremy. Projecting Britain at War: The National Character in British World War II Films, page 5. 84 MCCLOSKEY, Barbara. Artists of World War II (Artists of an Era), page 42. 85 MCCLOSKEY, Barbara. Artists of World War II (Artists of an Era), page 43. 86 MCCLOSKEY, Barbara. Artists of World War II (Artists of an Era), page 45. 97

The Nazi regime demanded perfection. It is impossible not to notice militaristic rhetoric even in Nazi culture. However, being loyal to the regime did not guarantee artistic success. The craft was put above everything else. As with everything in the Nazi regime, even the demand for well-crafted painting was taken to the extreme. There was no tolerance of minor technical flaws or slipshod execution, as Monice Bohm-Duchen points out. “Unsurprisingly, then, most of the works produced by members of the Staffel were technically skilled but aesthetically and psychologically unexceptional.” 87

When we relate Nazi Germany’s art to the question of heroism, we see types of heroes portrayed which we do not find in Britain, or for that matter in any other democratic country. We are presented with classical and epic heroes. The German soldiers, even the ordinary ones, are portrayed as people destined to conquer and rule. Destined to accomplish great things. This is, of course, in direct contrast to the British underdog mentality.

87 BOHM-DUCHEN, Monica. Art and the Second World War, page 183. 98

5.3. Ideology Behind Propaganda

Again, Jeremy Havardi highlights two different approaches to state propaganda. Britain was a parliamentary democracy and had a free press. The state control as seen in Nazi Germany was simply impossible. “Propaganda can exist in more subtle forms, and the messages it imparts can be explicit or subtle depending on context.”88 In other words, British propaganda worked with an underlying ideology. “Ideology can be thought of as a labyrinthine system of social and political beliefs that give meaning to a nation.” Havardi then examines Hollywood films, which were known for their very subtle defence of individual rights, preservation of property (westerns) or the maintenance of law and order (gangster/mafia films of the 1920s and 1930s).

Perhaps a more obvious, yet important distinction, is humour. In British propaganda we can see the enemy being mocked. Havardi mentions a sitcom called Fawlty Towers which portrayed Germans as “robotic and humourless.”89 Even when we explore British propaganda posters, we see humorous digs at the Germans. In contrast, Nazi propaganda was utterly humourless. Its aim was either to caricature persecuted groups of society (the ‘humour’ borne by the persecuted) or glorify the Aryan race in a very serious fashion. After all, classical and epic heroes have no time to have fun. They must achieve great things and change the world.

As we have seen in the examples above, British art was much more focused on ordinary people and everyday heroism. The imperial heroism is also present, but it is always balanced with the human element. It is impossible to find an example of British wartime fine art which could be interpreted as portraying a classical or epic hero in the purest form.

Therein lies the crucial distinction between Nazi German art and British art. For the Germans, everything was about physicality – notice the high foreheads, square jaws, aquiline noses90 (as McCloskey points out). On the other hand, when we look at some of the British portraits I’ve analysed in this thesis (Stoker Martin, Lieutenant Beattie, or even Ruby Loftus), there’s an incredible variety. There is always some physical imperfection (big nose, long face), which makes the subjects feel like real people.

The British approach to art was about individualism. It was about taking the best from the past and make it harmoniously coexist with the present. In other words, it created a sort of

88 HAVARDI, Jeremy. Projecting Britain at War: The National Character in British World War II Films, page 5. 89 HAVARDI, Jeremy. Projecting Britain at War: The National Character in British World War II Films, page 13. 90 MCCLOSKEY, Barbara. Artists of World War II (Artists of an Era), page 47. 99 balanced harmony. In Hitler’s Germany, everything was taken to the extreme one way or the other. Even in art.

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Conclusion

Throughout this thesis I have presented the status of feature films and fine art during the Second World War. In the course of writing it, something became apparent.

In the first half of the 20th century, film became a medium which truly connected with people and in some ways is a type of folk art. In other words, people actively respond to it and shape it. The ultimate goal of the WAAC was to return fine art to the same level of connection with people as films had in those days and still have. The commission aimed to connect British fine art more with the audience without compromising its artistic qualities. Looking back at how it was received at the time, and the success some of the paintings still enjoy to this day, Sir Kenneth Clark undoubtably succeeded in his mission.

To answer the questions I raised at the beginning of my thesis, we can safely define British heroism (whether everyday or imperial) as something which includes the following character traits: gentlemanly conduct, emotional self-control, cheerful humour, stoicism and devotion to duty. In portraits, these character traits are visible through body language.

We can also identify heroism no matter if we are looking at a landscape focusing on objects and war machinery, or whether we are looking at landscape focusing on people trying to cope with the chaos around them.

Often when writing about Dunkirk or the Battle of Britain there is a tendency to use the word ‘myth’ or ‘legend’. I consciously avoided these terms in my thesis. There is no doubting the incredible deeds people performed during these difficult times, and no doubting that these events are deeply rooted and fondly remembered by the British people. In this thesis I offered to look at these events and how they were portrayed, which does not diminish their importance, but also to look at the art from a certain distance.

We have also seen many similarities between fine art and films. There seems to be a unified visual language present when portraying everyday or imperial heroism.

For further research we might ask ourselves what constituted heroism in other Allied and occupied countries. Is British heroism specific because of its political and social climate as a democracy, or is it more because of its cultural heritage?

Also, is it possible look at wartime paintings and search not only for more obvious references from Romanticism, but perhaps even back to the Middle Ages and the Arthurian legends?

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After all, Winston Churchill famously compared the RAF pilots to the Knights of the Round Table.

The question of what constitutes heroism and how it is demonstrated in visual arts opens, in my opinion, new and interesting fields for research and forces us to look at art in a historical, political and social context.

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Bibliography

Literature Resources for Fine Art:

BLACK, Jonathan. The Face of Courage: Eric Kennington, Portraiture and the Second World War. First Edition. London: Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd, 2011. ISBN 9780856677052.

BOHM-DUCHEN, Monica. Art and the Second World War. First Edition. London: Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd., 2013. ISBN 9781848220331.

BOURKE, Joanna et. al. War and Art: A Visual History of Modern Conflict. First Edition. London: Reaktion Books, 2017. ISBN 9781780238463.

FOSS, Brian. War Paint: Art, War, State and Identity in Britain 1939-1945. First Edition. London: Yale University Press, 2007. ISBN 9780300108903.

IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM. Art from the Second World War. First Edition. London: Imperial War Museum, 2007. ISBN 9781904897665.

KERRIGAN, Michael. Paul Nash: Masterpieces of Art. First Edition. London: Flame Tree Publishing, 2018. ISBN 9781786647719.

KNOTT, Richard. The Sketchbook War: Saving the Nation’s Artists in World War II. First Edition. Stroud: The History Press, 2014. ISBN 9780750956154.

MCCLOSKEY, Barbara. Artists of World War II (Artists of an Era). Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2005. ISBN 9780313321535.

RIDING, Christine et. al. Art and the War at Sea. First Edition. London: Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, 2015. ISBN 9781848221680.

ROBB, Linsey. Men at Work: The Working Man in British Culture, 1939-1945 (Genders and Sexualities in History). First Edition. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. ISBN 9781137527462.

SILLARS, Stuart. British Romantic Art and the Second World War. Revised Edition (Originally published in 1991). London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. ISBN 9781349099207.

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SLOCOMBE, Richard. British Posters of the Second World War. First Edition. London: Imperial War Museum, 2010. ISBN 9781904897927.

TOLSON, Roger. Art from the First World War. First Edition. London: Imperial War Museum, 2014, ISBN 9781904897897.

Literature Resources for Historical Context:

CALDER, Angus. The People’s War: Britain 1939-1945. First Edition. London: Pimlico, 1992. ISBN 9780712652841.

CANNADINE, David. Churchill: The Statesman as Artist. First Edition. London: Bloomsbury Continuum, 2018. ISBN 9781472945211.

CORK, Richard. A Bitter Truth: Avant-Garde Art and the Great War. First Edition. London and New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994. ISBN 03-300-05704-0.

HANSON, Victor Davis. The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won. First Edition. New York: Basic Books, 2017. ISBN 9780465066988.

JACOBSON, Karen. Exiles + Emigrés: The Flight of European Artists from Hitler. First Edition. Los Angeles: The Lost Angeles Museum of Art, Wilshire Boulevard. New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1997. ISBN 0-8109-3271-7.

JOHNSON, Paul. Heroes: From Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar to Churchill and de Gaulle. First Edition. London: Harper Collins, 2007. 9780061143168.

PRICE, John. Everyday Heroism: Victorian Constructions of the Heroic Civilian. First Edition. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015. ISBN 9781474247955.

Literature Resources for Film:

ALDGATE, Tony. RICHARDS, Jeffrey. Britain Can Take It. First Edition. London: I.B. Tauris, 2007. ISBN 9781845114459.

FOX, Jo. Film Propaganda in Britain and Nazi Germany: World War II Cinema. First Edition. London: Berg Publishers, 2016. ISBN9781859738962.

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GLANCY, Mark. Going to the pictures: British cinema and the Second World War. In Past and Future, University of London: School of Advanced Study, October 2010.

HAVARDI, Jeremy. Projecting Britain at War: The National Character in British World War II Films. USA: McFarland, 2014, ISBN 9780786474837.

CHAPMAN, James. The British at War: Cinema, State and Propaganda, 1939-45 (Cinema and Society). First Edition. London: I. B. Tauris, 2000. ISBN 9781860646270.

MACKENZIE, Paul. British War Films, 1939-1945: The Cinema and The Services. First Edition. London: Hambleton Continuum, 2006. ISBN 9781852855864.

Internet Resources:

The Criterion [online]. In Which We Serve: Battle Stations by Terrence Rafferty. Last revision 27. 3. 2012 [cit. 21. 1. 2019]. Available from: < https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2219-in-which-we-serve-battle-stations>.

Royal Museums Greenwich [online]. Lieutenant Commander Stephen Halden Beattie. Last Revision 15. 3. 2019 [cit. 15. 3. 2019]. Available from: .

TATE [online]. David Bomberg – Bomb Store, 1942. Last Revision 20. 3. 2019 [cit. 20. 3. 2019]. Available from:

TATE [online]. Albert Richards. Last Revision 20. 4. 2019 [cit. 20. 4. 2019]. Available from: .

Imperial War Museum [online]. Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring. Last Revision 20. 1. 2019 [cit. 20. 1. 2019]. Available from: < https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/15504>.

Dame Laura Knight [online]. Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring. Last Revision 20. 1. 2019 [cit. 20. 1. 2019]. Available from: .

Imperial War Museum [online]. Battle of Britain. Last Revision 20. 4. 2019 [cit. 20. 4. 2019]. Available from: < https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/20102>.

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BFI Screen Online [online]. British Film in the 1940s by Michael Brooke. Last Revision 14. 1. 2019 [cit. 14. 1. 2019]. Available from: .

List of Films:

Night Train to Munich [film]. Directed by Carol REED. United Kingdom, 1940. 49th Parallel [film]. Directed by Michael POWELL. United Kingdom, 1941. In Which We Serve [film]. Directed by Noel COWARD & David LEAN. United Kingdom, 1942. The Third Man [film]. Directed by Carol REED. United Kingdom, 1949. The Bridge on the River Kwai [film]. Directed by David LEAN. United Kingdom, 1957. Our Man in Havana [film]. Directed by Carol REED. United Kingdom, 1959. Lawrence of Arabia [film]. Directed by David LEAN. United Kingdom, 1962. Doctor Zhivago [film]. Directed by David LEAN. United Kingdom, 1965. The Spy Who Loved Me [film]. Directed by Lewis GILBERT. United Kingdom, 1977. Superman [film]. Directed by Richard DONNER. USA, 1978. Casino Royale [film]. Directed by Martin CAMPBELL. United Kingdom, 2006. Man of Steel [film]. Directed by Zack SNYDER. USA, 2013. They Shall Not Grow Old [film]. Directed by Peter JACKSON. United Kingdom, 2018.

List of Illustrations:

Louis DUFFY, Aftermath, 1940, Laing Art Gallery. Available from: .

Henry MOORE, Tube Shelter Perspective, 1940; Tate. Available from: .

Paul NASH, After the Battle, 1918, Imperial War Museum. Available from: .

Paul NASH, Follow the Führer Above the Clouds, 1942, Imperial War Museum. Available from: .

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David BOMBERG, An Underground Bomb Store (1), 1942, Imperial War Museum. Available from: .

Mervyn PEAK, The Evolution of the Cathode Ray (Radiolocation) Tube, 1943, Imperial War Museum. Available from: .

Laura KNIGHT, Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring, 1943, Imperial War Museum. Available from: .

Eric KENNINGTON, Stoker Martin of HMS ‘Exeter’, 1940, National Maritime Museum. Available from: < https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/204221.html>.

William DRING, Lieutenant Commander C.E. Bridgman D.S.O., 1943, National Maritime Museum. Available from: .

Eric KENNINGTON, Portrait of Leading Seaman Dove of HMS Hardy, 1940, National Maritime Museum. Available from: < https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/204152.html>.

William DRING, P.O. [Petty Officer] A.W. Armishaw, DSM and bar, 1943, National Maritime Museum. Available from: < https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/204055.html>.

John WORSLEY, Lieutenant Commander Stephen Halden Beattie, 1944, National Maritime Museum. Available from: .

John WORSLEY, Dressing on Northern Patrol, 1939-1940, Imperial War Museum. Available from: < https://prints.rmg.co.uk/products/dressing-on-northern-patrol-by-an- official-war-artist-john-worsley-1939-40-pt0742>.

Charles PEARS, Convoy to Russia, 1942, National Maritime Museum. Available from: < https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/13064.html>.

Charles PEARS, Sinking of the Scharnhors, 26 December 1943, 1944, National Maritime Museum. Available from: < https://prints.rmg.co.uk/products/sinking-of-the-scharnhorst-26- december-1943-bhc0685>.

Paul NASH, Battle of Britain, 1941, Imperial War Museum. Available from: < https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/20102>.

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Charles CUNDALL, The Withdrawal from Dunkirk, June 1940, Imperial War Museum. Available from: < https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/5769>.

Richard EURICH, The Withdrawal from Dunkirk, 1940, National Maritime Museum. Available from: .

Albert RICHARDS, The Drop, 1944, Imperial War Museum. Available from: < https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/22759?utm_source=artuk&utm_medium=lnk &utm_campaign=201216>.

Laura KNIGHT, Corporal J.D.M. Pearson, GC, WAAF, 1940, Imperial War Museum. Available from: .

Leonard ROSOMAN. A House Collapsing on Two Firemen, Shoe Lane, London EC4, 1940, Imperial War Museum. Available from: < https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/23296>.

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