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CARTOON - A DANGEROUS OCCUPATION

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Ben Strange

1923

Subcollections

Overview

Scene of a French soldier in uniform. Uniform has a blue tunic, with grey and red pants and a dark coloured cap with red band. On his back is a backpack and over his shoulder is a rifle. He is in a room full of gun power kegs and he is lighting a pipe. There is text in the smoke rising from the pipe saying [RUHR / VALLEY / OCCUPATION] and text on power kegs saying [GUN POWDER].
Ben Strange signature bottom right
The published cartoon in the Western Mail on 1 March 1923 included the caption:
A DANGEROUS OCCUPATION.

Historical information

The cartoon shows a French soldier dressed for battle (he has the word ‘France’ on his collar), about to light a pipe in a room filled with barrels of Gunpowder. In the corner of the room, in the midst of the smoke from the pipe, are the words, ‘Ruhr Valley Occupation’. The title of the cartoon, ‘A Dangerous Occupation’ has 2 meanings. Not only is the soldier engaging in a dangerous act - lighting a pipe in the midst of explosive material, the image is a metaphor for the potentially dangerous situation in Europe at that time with the French occupation of the Ruhr Valley in Germany.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-33-AK1999.76

Item type

Artworks

Themes

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

Material

Ink

Paper

Pencil

Inscriptions and markings

Artist's signature bottom right [Ben Strange]

Keywords

West Australian - Newspaper

Western Mail Newspaper

STRANGE Ben Mr

BIRTWISTLE Ivor T Mr L/Cpl

Year

Statement of significance

HIGH
The Ben Strange cartoons are historically significant as they depict many key figures linked to the history and development of both Western Australia and Australia. Political figures who regularly appeared in his cartoon’s included John ‘Happy Jack’ Scaddan, the Premier of Western Australia from 1911 until 1916, and William ‘Billy’ Hughes, the Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923.

Primary significance criteria

Artistic or aesthetic significance

Historic significance

Social or spiritual significance

Comparative significance criteria

Interpretive capacity

Object’s condition or completeness

Rare or representative

Well provenanced

Last modified

Sunday, 14 July, 2024

City of Armadale - History House