Exhibition Theme - Casualties

Wrecked Lodestar

Thake was interested in the technology of war and its aftermath, particularly crashed and abandoned aircraft, bombed buildings and deserted camps. Surrealism was the means by which he could explore these themes in his art. A graphic artist by training, he was able to simplify the forms of the machines; his aircraft, as here for example, have turned into desiccated insects sitting derelict in the landscape, their interiors exposed to the elements.

Gouache, pencil on paper 50.4 x 39.2 cm
Painted in Alice Springs, NT, 1945
Presented by the RAAF War History Section in 1947
Australian War Memorial
ART26790

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