Swooping Down on a Taube from The Great War: Britain's Efforts and Ideals

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson

1917 (published 1918) · Lithograph · Drawings and Prints

Made shortly after Nevinson was named an official British war artist in 1917, Swooping Down on a Taube belongs to the series The Great War: Britain’s Efforts and Ideals, a government-sponsored, multi-artist propaganda series intended to be displayed around the country and sold to raise funds for the war effort. As part of his research, Nevinson flew over the English countryside—his first time in an airplane. The experience led him to later recall "the whole newness of vision and the excitement" it conjured, which had a profound impact on his work. Here, in a more somber image, he depicted a British plane attacking a German Taube, which, faintly visible at the bottom of the composition, is portrayed so as to resemble a bird.

Artist

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson

Date

1917 (published 1918)

Medium

Lithograph

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Leslie and Johanna Garfield Gift, Lila Acheson Wallace, Charles and Jessie Price, and David T Schiff Gifts, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, Dolores Valvidia Hurlburt Bequest, Peco Foundation and Friends of Drawings and Prints Gifts, and funds from various donors, 2019