AN ARTIST AT GALLIPOLI

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2665, 10 January 1916, Page 3

AN ARTIST AT GALLIPOLI

■'PLACE THAT DORE MIGHT HAVE PAINTED." Mr. Norman Wilkinson, who has just returned to London from Gallipoli, is completing a book in which his sketches, which are now being exhibited at the Fine Art Society's Galleries, will be reproduced in colours. The book, which will appear early next month, will also contain a number of additional pen drawings and a| personal account of his observations and experiences of the Suvla Bay landing and other incidents of the operations there and in the Dardanelles. " Mr. Wilkinson was nearly four months away from England, from July to tho end of October, and filled the appointment of Assistant-Paymas-ter on board tho Swiftsuro and Theseus. All the sketclies were completed at the time and many were made under fire—a circumstance, however, of which in an interview recently with a representative of "The he made very light. On one occasion, while sketching on "C" beach, just after the the Turkish guns began firing- shrapr.el. "The shrapnel burst quite close enough," ho said, "to be comfortable, or uncomfortable, as tlio case may bo, and I decided that it was 110 place for tho gentle art of watercolour painting. Like a good many others, I took shelter on the leo side, away Irom tho hring. Many of the sketches wero made on shore. The shells from the Turkish batteries, which were going overhead all tho time, were noi meant lor any part that I was in; they were intended for the beaches. One could hear these liigli explosive missiles, some of them of very high calibre, sighing through tho air overhead. Some seemed extraordinarily slow in their flight, as if they must drop at any moment. One gets too used to them to bo for ever looking round to see what has happened, but if one does happen to look tho signt that presents itself is that of a cloud of smoke and sand hanging over the placo where the shell has burst." Water-colour sketching is not an easy thing in a war zone, and in the great sun heat of tho Eastern Mediterranean. "With a great deal of climbing from ships into boats to bo done, with landings on inhospitable shores, often in rough weather, tho artist's apparatus must bo cut down to a minimum, and witli tho limited supply of water that can be carried the paper, when it comes to the actual painting, dries up as fast as vou wet il.. And then tliero is tho blase of on the l^aper.

"'You always had to wear coloured K'a ssos," Mr. Wilkinson said, "otherwise with continual looking on the paper upon which you were working you would rapidly bccome colour-blind. You had to look over the glasses at the object which was being painted and through them at the sketch, at any rate until it was fairly covered. As to painting in oils, it was practically impossible. Owhig to the flies and sand no sketch coiTlJ Hlive been made in oils that would have been intelligible to anyone but tho artist." A Horrible Place. One of Mr. Wilkinson's deepest impressions was that of t'lio Australian position at Anzac. It was perfectly marvellous, he thought, how thoy got there and how they stayed there. "With it's high forbidding cliffs, intersected by precipitous gullies, it was," ho said, "a horrible place—a sort of placo Dore would have painted. Thero was practically no beach, and up these high cliff's the men had to scramble as best they could, sometimes finding, sometimes making, a sort' of pathway." __Mr. Wilkinson went ashore immediately after the landing at Suvla Bay, "lid ho described tho optimistic feeling fiiat prevailed all through the day that things were going well. Even, however, in so close a position as he found himself, in touch more or less with everyone, it was exceedingly difficult to ascertain exactly what was happening, ami it was only rumour that gave them any idea that there had been a check. The troops landed in the night. As daylight broke the bay was seen to bo filled with transports, boarding steamers and lighters. "Wo were facing," he said, "due east. It was a morning characteristic of Eastern Mediterranean sunrise. The sky was cloudless, and at first tho Anafarta range showed very dark—almost black and formless. As the sun got up the sky grew overcast. It was the first cloudy day that wo had had for months. A heavy thunderstorm came on, and through the torrents of rain you could see- the troops forming up along the beach to advance in supportl of those that had already gone on. —long files of men in khaki, amongst whoni shells v/cro already bursting. In the distance one cotild hear tho riflo firo from tho troops, in advanced positions. "It is a horrible country for fighting it),""!?]'. Wilkinson added.