SOLD
Stephen Bone:
Study for ‘Arrival of Second Escort Group of Sloops at Liverpool’, 1944
Framed (ref: 5269)
Oil on paper with scratching out
12 1/4 x 11 in. (32 x 28 cm)
Tags: Stephen Bone oil maritime war World War II Paintings by British Artists Mary Adshead (1904-1995) & Stephen Bone (1904-1958)
Provenance: Abbott and Holder
Exhibited: WW2 - War Pictures by British Artists, Morley College London, 28 October -23 November 2016, cat 1.
Literature: WW2 - War Pictures by British Artists, Edited by Sacha Llewellyn & Paul Liss, July 2016, cat 1, page 40.
The finished painting is in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
At the outbreak of the Second World War, Bone enlisted as an officier in the Civil Defence Camouflage Establishment based in Leamington Spa. In June 1943 Bone was appointed by the War Artists' Advisory Committee to be a full-time salaried artist to the Ministry of Information specialising in Admiralty subjects. The post had originally being held by Stephens father, Muirhead Bone, but following the death of Gavin Bone, Stephen's brother, Muirhead decided not to continue with the commission.
Bone produced a large quantity of works showing naval craft and coastal installations around Great Britain. He recorded the 1944 Normandy landings, painted scenes in Caen and Courseulles after the invasion and went on to record the assault on Walcheren Island in the Netherlands. Towards the end of 1944 he travelled to Norway and painted the wreck of the Tirpitz.
