painting, Battle for Carpiquet Airfield
Report a Mistake- Object Number 19710261-6183
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Event
1939-1945 Second World War
1944 Battle of Normandy - Affiliation --
- Artist / Maker / Manufacturer Fisher, Captain Orville Norman
- Date Made 1946
- Category Communication artifacts
- Sub-category Art
- Department Art and Memorials
- Museum CWM
- Earliest 1946/01/01
- Latest 1946/12/31
- Inscription (recto): O.N. Fisher. 46.; (verso) BATTLE FOR CARPIQUET AIRPORT; ROYAL WINNIPEG RIFLES, SUPPORTED BY; 6TH ARMOURED REGT. - 2ND CDN. ARMY TANK BRIGADE; JULY-6-44. SER. NO 2639; CAPT.O.N. FISHER, - 1946; NEG. NO W.A. 1135;
- Medium oilgraphite
- Support canvas
- Materials Not applicable
- Service Component Canadian Army
- Unit Royal Winnipeg Rifles
- Measurements Height 102.0 cm, Width 122.0 cm
- Caption Orville Fisher (1911 - 1999)
- Additional Information Orville Fisher's paintings of the Second World War constitute one of the most complete records of Canada's day-to-day role in that conflict. Perhaps his chief claim to fame is that he was the only Allied war artist to land in Normandy on D-Day, 6 June 1944. This achievement is all the more extraordinary given the fact that he almost never made it overseas in the first place. Fisher worked as a service artist with the Canadian Army beginning in February 1942, and a year later became an official war artist. He did not re-enter civilian life until July 1946. As a war artist, and undoubtedly as a person, Fisher was a determined and creative man. In preparation for the D-Day invasion, he strapped tiny waterproof pads of paper to his wrist. After racing up the beach from his landing craft, Fisher made rapid, on-the-spot sketches, using perfectly dry materials, of the battle unfolding around him. Later, the artist created larger watercolour paintings away from the battlefront. Unlike fellow war artist Charles Comfort's reconstruction of the August 1942 Dieppe Raid that was created four years after the event in the peace and security of a studio, Fisher's D-Day - The Assault was based on a real-life experience of action replete with all the turmoil and blood. Attached to the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, Fisher landed on the beach at Courseulles-sur-Mer. The first 20 minutes of Stephen Spielberg's film Saving Private Ryan arguably re-creates the artist's D-Day experience in all its horror.
- Caption Battle for Carpiquet Airfield, 1946
- Additional Information Despite a determined and costly attack by the 8th Canadian Infantry Brigade on July 4, 1944, Carpiquet airfield remained in German hands until Caen was taken on July 9, 1944. Orville Fisher used the image of a destroyed but still standing aircraft hangar to symbolize this determined and ultimately successful action.