Under a Modern Sun: Art in Queensland 1930s–1950s

212 Under a Modern Sun: Art in Queensland 1930s–1950s 213 Douglas Annand , Beach scene, Thursday Island 1944 DOUGLAS ANNAND Graphic designer and artist Douglas Annand is best known for the large‑scale murals he conceived for commissions, such as the ceiling of the Australian Pavilion at the 1937 Paris Exposition, and less so for his light‑infused watercolours. Born in Toowoomba, Annand studied for brief periods at the Central Technical College under L J Harvey and FJ Martyn Roberts while working as a commercial artist. From 1928, Annand was employed in the Brisbane office of advertising agency Samson Clark & Co. Ltd, and was transferred to the company’s Sydney premises in 1930 before being retrenched. 1 He worked briefly for Allied Advertising Artists and then elected to freelance, working independently from that time. In the mid 1930s, Annand’s designs for Sydney Ure Smith’s influential publications The Home and Art in Australia won him renown within Australia, while he forged an international reputation through projects such as the Australian Pavilion at the 1939 New York World Fair, which he designed in collaboration with architect John Oldham. 2 World War Two brought with it a change in direction and new opportunities for Annand. From 1941 to 1944, he served with the camouflage unit of the Royal Australian Air Force and was stationed in north Queensland. While employed to design camouflage for aircraft bases as well as information booklets and insignia, Annand also took the opportunity to paint. With little free time, he found the watercolour medium enabled him to capture the tropical landscapes around him in as little as 15 minutes. 3 Annand’s lyrical Thursday Island pub 1943 (pp.214–15) and Beach scene, Thursday Island 1944 are remarkably free of references to the war, and clearly offered the artist a respite from his official duties. Notes 1 Ross Searle, ‘Douglas Annand – A creative spirit’, in A Creative Spirit: Douglas Annand Watercolours , Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, 2015, p.17. 2 Searle, p.18. 3 Anne McDonald, Douglas Annand: The Art of Life , National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2001, p.43.