Grace Cossington Smith - National Gallery of Australia

WAR
Grace Cossington Smith
Dawn landing 1944
oil on pulpboard
Sir James and Lady Cruthers Collection, Perth
Grace Cossington Smith lived through two world wars. Although known as an artist of domestic
interiors, still lifes, and portraits of family and friends, she was also interested in political and social
issues. She painted royal visits, the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the D-day invasion of
Normandy and a victory thanksgiving service in the parish church. In 1939, at the outbreak of World
War II, the artist was 47 years old. She volunteered for war work as an air-raid warden for her street in
Turramurra and created several major paintings on the theme of war at this time. These works stand
apart from the responses of other Australian artists, as they convey her strongly patriotic support for
the war and the empathy she felt for the sacrifi ce of young men for this gallant cause.
Inspired by the D-day landing in France in June 1944, Dawn landing depicts a column of soldiers
disembarking from a landing craft. There is no death and carnage, just a column of young men
walking forward with their heads bent. It is most likely that Cossington Smith used newspaper
photographs published in the Sydney Morning Herald on the day that the attack was reported
as the basis for this painting. She combines elements from two photographs and is therefore not
interested in creating an accurate historical reconstruction of this event; rather she emphasises
the individual’s sacrifi ce as the ultimate act of civic duty and patriotism. She later stated that she
was particularly interested in D-day because her nephew Bill Pakenham-Walsh took part. He was
probably the inspiration for the closest fi gure, with his golden colouring, and downcast, cherubic
face.
Visual analysis
The ominous yawning hull of the troop carrier, with its doors enclosing a distant tank, is the focal
point of this painting. Behind this vessel, stretching into the distance are massed hundreds of vessels
that create a mosaic-like pattern of browns and purples. The diagonal stream of soldiers, mainly
faceless and unarmed, wade forwards through the water. They are painted in glowing colours of
brown and gold. The water is broken up into patches of vertical brushstrokes in a variety of warm
shades. The cropped composition may indicate the photographic source of this image.
Discussion point
•How does this painting reveal the artist’s values and attitudes towards Australian participation in
World War II?