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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 2375.PDF
OCTOBER gtH, FLIGHT WAR ARTISTS' EXHIBITION R.A.F. Well Represented : Kenning- ton Portraits a Striking Feature : Some Impressions of Aerial Warfare WHILE one would need to be anexperienced art critic in orderto appreciate the qualities of some of the pictures included in theWar Artists' Exhibition at the National Gallery, two new rooms ofwhich have just been opened to the public, there is much there that willmake immediate appeal to the ordinary normal citizen. Almostevery conceivable phase of war activity is represented—industry, civildefence, air-raid devastation, not to mention various facets of life in thethree Services—but among the latest additions the R.A.F. is particularly favoured. Among the portraits, of which there is a generous num-ber, those by Eric Kennington stand out for their aliveness and general vigour; one has no need to be an " expert''to admire these. Then there is the delightful work of Charles Pears, of which " Hell's Corner " is a fine example.This painting of aerial combat off the Dover cliffs will surely "arouse as much admiration as any canvas in theexhibition, and there are many that will bring the visitor to a halt during a walk around these rooms.•" Quite a compelling piece of work, also, is "All Our Air- craft Returned Safely," by J. A. Russell, D.F.C., whichdepicts a Whitley ploughing its way homewards through a "THE ROOF SPOTTER," fry HENRY RVSHBVRY murky night sky with flames licking back from its port engine. Students of aircraft identification will at once recognise the tail of the machine, but the artist has given a curious upward warp to its wings which suggests, to the prosaic eye, that,its safe return is a matter for considerable doubt, to say the least. Sir Kenneth Clark, director of the National Gallery, observed at a preview on Friday last that '' in order to preserve truth for posterity one must pickle it in style." This is a pretty notion, but one cannot help reflecting how little the appearance of pickled cabbage resembles that noble vegetable in its normal form—especially when one gazes at Graham Sutherland's impression of twisted girders in a blitz fire, or Bawden's "Sunrise Over Ethiopia." "ARMOURER WITH BROWNING GUN,"by ROBERT AUSTIN. SQN. LDR. L. A. STRANGE, D.S.O., M.C., D.F.C.AND BAR, by ERIC KENNINGTON.
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