Australia,
Britain
and Canada
in the
Second World War
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Exhibition Theme - Work

Patients waiting outside a first aid post in a factory

Ruskin Spear RA (1911-1990)
Patients waiting outside a first aid post in a factory, Ruskin Spear RA, Imperial War Museum, ART LD 2683

The room contains elements of a modern working environment: clear signs on doors and walls, electric lights (though they barely illuminate the outside walls), loudspeakers sited high on the walls and functional furnishings. However, this is the inactive and uncommunicative part of the factory. The image is typical of Spear's war work that scrutinised social interactions in unusual or strained circumstances - late shift workers slumped together on tube trains or deaf workers in a factory.

Oil on panel 67.9 x 78.7 cm
Painted in London, 1942
Imperial War Museum ART LD 2683

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