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Artwork - Trench by Peter Dailey, 2015

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2015

Overview

Coloured pencil drawing based on abstract shapes and designs which are themselves composed of silhouettes of soldiers in various actions.

Historical information

So much of World War I came down to trench warfare. Because of the industrial nature of the weapons and their precision, or merely their rapid fire power, it became extremely dangerous to be caught in “no man's land” above ground. For this reason soldiers lived and fought most of their existence below ground level.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-32-99.902

Item type

Abstract Artworks

Themes

Art and Design
War and Conflict
War and Conflict > World War 1

Width

860 mm

Height or length

1090 mm

Inscriptions and markings

Artwork size is based on size of Regimental Colour of 11 Battalion AIF

Contextual Information

I learnt through research within the Army Museum however that a lot of warfare happened not only below ground level, but indeed below the trenches. Tunnels were dug below the trenches and explosives were detonated, collapsing the trench and soldiers. While the image in this drawing has the appearance of a decorative rug, which would lay on the ground, the patterns also refer to lines of trenches with possible lines of tunnels underneath. It also alludes to the notion of grids and entwined systems of communication. Even though the image is very two dimensional, I can imagine the dark earth coloured section to allude to an horizon line. Again however, after reading the history of the warfare, it became unclear where the notion of “horizon” actually existed.

Year

2015

Australian Army Museum of Western Australia

Organisation Details
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