Percy Wyndham Lewis: A Battery Shelled

IWM ART 2747

Inspired by his experiences as an officer in the Royal Garrison Artillery, Percy Wyndham Lewis here depicts the effects of counter-battery artillery fire. A British position is bombarded by accurate German fire; the heavily stylised figures of British gunners seem to form part of a mechanical structure as they struggle to move shells to their guns. The three gunners in the foreground appear almost like spectators, their fatalistic and calm detachment reflecting the impersonal nature of artillery warfare.

Percy Wyndham Lewis was one of the most avant-garde British artists commissioned to complete a large memorial painting. He was a founder member of the Vorticist group, an artistic and literary movement that celebrated the energy and violence of the modern machine age.

1919, 1828 mm x 3175 mm