Light Horse at Gallipoli Accession Number: AWM2017.504.1

Description

Well-known painter, printmaker and ceramic artist Garry Shead (b. 1942) trained at the National Art School, Sydney, between 1961 and 1962. His work is held in several national, state and regional galleries across Australia.

[Artist's statement]: 'This painting was first conceived in 1978, when I was 36 years of age. At that time, I was deeply involved with the Gallipoli story. Gallipoli was first brought to my attention when I was a 15 year old schoolboy. One of my school teachers was a Gallipoli veteran who had shared his experiences with us. These stories stayed with me into adulthood. Many years later, I immersed myself in the official history of the campaign, by C.E.W. Bean and numerous other war documents. I even contacted a Major General who was the last survivor of the Gallipoli campaign, in my attempts to come close to the experiences of those men. I did many drawings and paintings, but was never fully satisfied with the results. The images were so powerful, but at that stage I remained a reader, not yet a visual interpreter. I longed to paint this story, but I wasn’t ready. It has taken me fifty years to portray my feelings about this definitive moment in history for Australia.

This artwork was painted in 2011. It depicts those men, in this landscape. Before they landed in Gallipoli, they trained in Egypt. They were young men who came from a country, Australia, and this was their first and probably only experience in the wider world. In Egypt they saw the pyramids and the Sphinx and from there they found themselves in this war zone, under constant threat of death. There was a strange shaped hill at Gallipoli that the Diggers called "The Sphinx". It towered over them, like some kind of spirit, above their ordeal. It was here in Gallipoli that Australia had its "Baptism of Fire".'

Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Garry Shead

Details

Events

• Gallipoli, 1915

Units

• First World War, 1914-1918