Alan Sorrell:
May Morning, Putney Embankment, July 6th, 1939
Framed (ref: 3706)
Dated and Inscribed with title, squared for transfer
Charcoal and wash with white highlights on buff coloured paper
Tags: Alan Sorrell charcoal allegory Metropolitan night scenes and sleep war World War II Paintings by British Artists Seventy-seven pictures by Alan Sorrell
Provenance: The Artist's Family
Exhibited: WW2 - War Pictures by British Artists, Morley College London, 28 October -23 November 2016, cat 130.
Literature: WW2 - War Pictures by British Artists, Edited by Sacha Llewellyn & Paul Liss, July 2016, cat 130, page 173.
After WWI promises made to soldiers returning from the trenches, that they would be rewarded with 'A Land Fit for Heroes', evaporated, as huge debts, high unemployment, and slow growth wiped out Britain’s leadership in the world economy. Many soldiers found themselves unable to reintegrate back into civilian life. The scars left behind at the end of WW1 were still in evidence as the dawn of WW2 broke.
