Aero-Engine Accessories Girls, Dorothy Josephine
Coke, 1941, FA100353. Presented to Brighton
Museum & Art Gallery in 1947.
Why should the state commission artists to record events in a seemingly outmoded manner when photography and film would seem to be a much better way of doing the job?
Apart from the strong tradition of having an artist record aspects of war, Clark said later 'we employed every artist whom we thought had any merit, not because we supposed that we would get records of the war more truthful or striking than those supplied by photography, but because it seemed a good way of preventing artists being killed'. 2,000 artists applied to work on the scheme, of which 300 were employed.