Eric
Kennington, the son of the painter Thomas Kennington,
was born in Chelsea in 1888. His father was a portrait painter and
an active member of the New
English Art Club. Educated at St.
Paul's School and the Lambeth School
of Art, Kennington first exhibited at the Royal
Academy in 1908.
On the outbreak of the First World War Kennington
enlisted with the 13th London Regiment. He fought on the Western
Front but was badly wounded and and sent home in June 1915. During
his convalescence he produced The Kensingtons
at Laventie, a portrait of a group of infantrymen. When
exhibited in the spring of 1916 its portrayal of exhausted soldiers
created a sensation.
Charles Masterman
was the head of the government's War
Propaganda Bureau (WPB).
Based at Wellington House, the WPB initially concentrated on producing
pamphlets and books on the war. However, Masterman soon realised that
he needed pictures to help the war effort. The WPB employed two army
officers as photographers but in May, 1916, Masterman recruited his
first artist, Muirhead Bone, to be sent
to the Western Front.
Kennington was invalided out of the British
Army and in August, 1917, he was employed by the War
Propaganda Bureau to produce pictures of the Western
Front. Kennington's
paintings, pastels and lithographs include Gassed
and Wounded, The Die-Hards
and Back to Billets. After the
war he also designed many war memorials.
In 1922 Kennington went with T.
E. Lawrence to Arabia where he illustrated The
Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
Kennington was also an official artist during the Second
World War. During this war he confined himself chiefly to pastel
portraits of sailors and airmen. Eric Kennington
died in 1960.
Eric Kennington, Gassed and Wounded (1917)
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