Place | Africa: Egypt, Frontier, Sinai |
---|---|
Accession Number | ART03038 |
Collection type | Art |
Measurement | Plate: 20.3 x 35.4 cm; Sheet: 29.8 x 44.9 cm |
Object type | |
Physical description | etching on wove paper; Edition: 76, artist's proof F |
Maker |
McBey, James |
Place made | United Kingdom |
Date made | 1919 |
Conflict |
Period 1910-1919 First World War, 1914-1918 |
Copyright |
Item copyright: AWM Licensed copyright |
The Sinai Desert, July 1917
Depicts the Australian Camel Corps travelling through the Sinai Desert. In the foreground is the skeleton of an animal such as a horse or camel. This work is from McBey's first Palestine set of etchings and drypoints. McBey was a painter and etcher. Born in Newburg, Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 1884, he travelled to Holland, Spain and Morocco in 1913. He was one of Britain's most successful etchers before the war. Although rejected several times for military service he eventually managed to enlist in January 1916 and worked in the British army's printing section at Boulogne. He was appointed an official war artist in April 1917 and joined the British Expeditionary Force in Egypt, where he also travelled with and recorded patrols with the Australian Camel Corps. Before his appointment he was able to gain permission to spend his leave sketching at the frontline in France.