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Description: | As an official war artist, Bone spent some time in a variety of naval shipping during the Second World War, including submarines, and this painting shows the wardroom and forward mess deck taken from the view looking through the Davis escape chamber. An officer wearing a seaman's jersey smokes a pipe and reads a journal, his head resting on his right hand. The artist has incorporated a still life in the foreground. A large pot of tea sits on the table. A place has been laid to the right with a plate of food and a cup of tea waiting the arrival, perhaps, of the lieutenant whose jacket and scarf sit on a chair in the foreground. It is possible that the artist has intended to place himself in the painting in this way, since he was a lieutenant in the RNR, but the empty seat and warm meal might also be for the viewer. Bone also signed his name on the book in the foreground to the far left. Foul-weather gear hangs on the wardroom door to the far right. Beyond is a ladder with a person descending towards the group of sailors seen framed through the hatch and relaxing around a table or on a bench. Some look round towards the viewer and their space is cramped in comparison with the officer, who sits on his own. The Davis escape chamber serves to segregate officers and men, so even in such cramped conditions naval hierarchies were practised, and the separation between ranks maintained.
The artist has attempted to create an impression of the conditions experienced by submariners, through showing the conditions in which they lived, and which he also shared. The National Maritime Museum holds over 30 oil paintings by Bone, painted for the War Artists Advisory Committee. This painting has been signed by the artist and is dated '1945'.
This object was sighted as being on display during the Collections Inventory Project (2001-2005). It will need to be checked for object numbers and its condition activity updated
caption: S-Class Submarine:The Wardroom and Forward Mess Deck Seen Through the Davis Escape Chamber | Publisher: | "http://collections.rmg.co.uk/" | Rights holder: | "Royal Museums Greenwich" | Subjects: | Bone Stephen Second World War paintings | Source: | Royal Museums Greenwich | Identifier: | http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections... | Go to resource |
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