The Face of Courage Eric Kennington, Portraiture and the Second World War

by Black, Jonathan

• ISBN13: 9780856677052
• ISBN10: 0856677051
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-07-15
• Publisher: Philip Wilson Publishers

Summary

The powerful, poignant and unforgettable portraits of soldiers in charcoal and pastel Eric Kennington produced during the Second World War established him as 'among the most capable draughtsmen' of the day. He was frequently mentioned by leading art critics as equal in skill to contemporaries such as Augustus John, William Orpen and John Singer Sergeant. His work was routinely placed in the same class as such giants from the past as Botticelli, Van Eyck, Dürer, Hans Holbein the Younger, Cranach, Ingres and Goya. The incisive, crystalline quality of his draughtsmanship was especially admired, the variety of effects he could achieve with the subtlest change in pressure on a stick of charcoal or pastel. This book brings together a fine selection of Kennington's war portraits, along with accounts of his sitters' dramatic careers and the context of these works.

Author Biography

Jonathan Black has been a Senior Research Fellow in History of Art at Kingston University since 2008. His publications include: The Graphic Art of Eric Kennington' (UCL, 2001); The Sculpture of Eric Kennington (Lund Humphries, 2002); Form, Feeling and Calculation: the Paintings and Drawings of Edward Wadsworth (PWP, 2005); Dora Gordine: Artist, Sculptor, Designer (PWP, 2008). He has published various essays on aspects of early 20th Century British and European Art i.e. on the prints of C.R.W. Nevinson (2007); Henri Gaudier Brzeska and the First World War (2007); graphic artist Hans Schleger (2009); Charles Sargeant Jagger's Royal Artillery Memorial, London (2010); and Eric Kenningtons friendship with T.E. Lawrence (2010).

Table of Contents

Introduction - Eric Kennington: The Portraitist as Romantic Realist * Chapter One - Return of an Old Stager: With the High Command and the Royal Navy, November 1939-May 1940 * Chapter Two - With The Intrepid Aviators During the Battle of Britain, August-December 1940 * Chapter Three - Into the Boxing Ring: Learning the RAF in 1941 * Chapter Four - Fighting Spirit: With the Tanks and the RAF, 1941-42 * Chapter Five - Becoming a Pirate: With the Infantry and the Home Guard, 1942-43 * Chapter Six - Brave People in a People’s War: Later War Works, 1944-45 * Coda - ‘A Piece of Grit in The Works’: Post-War, 1945-60