Exhibition of paintings, drawings and sculpture by Australian Official War Artists

F R A N K NORTON. Joining the Transport, Sydney, April, 1941. 73. C AM P O F No. 3 SQUADRON, R.A.A.F., A T GAZALA, D E C EMB E R , 1941. Oil. Three of the squadron's Tomahawks are in the air. 74. T A K I N G O F F IN T H E WESTERN DESERT. Oil. The picture shows Kittyhawk aircraft of No. 3 Squadron taking off in a dust storm from the desert landing ground at Antalet, south of Benghazi, in January, 1942. The pilot in the foreground is seen talking to his flight leader by radio- phone. 75. EMBARKATION, H.M.T. Laconia. Chalk and Ink Drawing. Australian troops, homeward bound, embarking at Suez, March, 1942. 76. FORWARD D E C K , H.M.S. Chitral. Chalk Drawing. 77. S UBMAR I NE G U A R D IN THE ROAR I NG FORTIES, MAY , 1942. Oil. SCULPTURE. LIEUT. LYNDON DADSWELL. 7 8 . H E A D O F AN AUSTRALIAN SOLDIER. 79. BOMB THROWER. By using single massive forms, plasti- cally related, the artist has given not a photographic image of arrested action, but the essential power and threat of a grenade thrower. The figure, though not life size, gives the impression of monu- mental proportions. 80. STRETCHER-BEARERS. A piela of war. The large and simple forms of the group convey a feeling of both tenderness and strength. 8 1 . GREECE. This group represents men of the 16th Australian Infantry Brigade, exhausted and half-frozen, but straining every nerve as they trudge back over Mt. Olympus. 8 2 . SOLDIER IN W I N T E R DRESS. More naturalistic than the artist's other works, this figure is a straightforward record of the unconscious dignity of the trained fighting man. 83-86. POLISH INSIGNIA. Included in the exhibition is a collection of insignia and badges worn by the Polish military, naval and air forces in the present war. The collection is the gift of the Polish Carpathian Independent Brigade. It was presented to the 9th Australian Division at a ceremony held in Cairo in March, 1942, and commemorates the friendship between the Poles and the Australians when they served side by side in the siege of Tobruk. A reciprocal gift from Australia is to be made to the Polish forces. It will take the form of an oil painting of Tobruk by the A.I.F. artist, Captain Ivor Hele. 17