September 1939

September 1939

Watercolour - Signed dated and inscribed

Image Area: 15ins x 22ins - Framed: 24ins x 31ins

An interesting work executed in September 1939 when war was declared. The drawing shows an artist’s impression of how he thought the war would be conducted based on events of the Great War and the Spanish Civil War. The painting concentrates on memories of trench warfare and the desolate area of 'no-mans land'.

A lot of Norman's inspirations came form reading poetry and at this time was influenced by W H Auden who lived in Birmingham. Auden had served in the Spanish Civil War and on the outbreak of WW2 he wrote the poem titled "September 1, 1939. Although Auden had emigrated to America during 1939 where he wrote this work he was considered as one of the leading voices of a young generation in the UK and maybe no co-incidence that the two works have the same title

Listen to Auden poetry read by Tom O'Bedlam (courtesy of youtube)

Many of our friends who knew Norman were born prior to 1939 so try to imagine that you are the artist and transport yourself back to your own memories of 1939 when the only reports were from the papers, cinema newsreels, the radio and worried parents who would still have memories of the Great War or maybe the Spanish Civil War