A British Officer, Etaples 1916
Black conté
24.5 x 12.3 cm
Signed, inscribed Etaples and dated 1916
Provenance: John and Edward Barkes until 2025
The Australian-born Iso Rae had moved from Melbourne to Paris with her mother and sister in 1887, then on to the artist's colony of Etaples 3 years later.
"When war broke out in 1914, most of her fellow artists left, but Iso Rae and her sister Alison refused to leave. Their mother was unwell and they were reluctant to move her."
"Strategically situated in northern France, ... the small fishing port of Étaples became the largest British army base of the war, serving British, Canadian, Scottish and Australian forces. It was used as a training and retraining ground for forces about to enter battle, but also as a depot for supplies, and a detention centre for prisoners, both allied and enemy, and was the site of several large hospitals, which were set up to treat the wounded from the Somme battlefields on the Western Front."
During the war, Iso worked as a VAD, (Voluntary Aid Detachment) for the British Red Cross. She produced more than 200 pastel drawings documenting the topography of the coast, conditions in the camp, making observational drawings of hospitals, barracks, recreation huts and tents, soldiers drilling, horses, German prisoners of war and the life around her. Reference: Australian War Memorial, Claire Hunter, "Peace and Quiet is what one asks for", November 2023, read more
Item #7354
Price: $2,500.00