#clive branson

Blitz: Plane Flying

Clive Branson

MWW Artwork of the Day (4/14/23) Clive Branson (British, 1907–1944) Bombed Women and Searchlights (1940) Oil on canvas, 50.9 x 61.2 cm. The Tate Gallery, London

"Bombed Women and Searchlights" was painted in response to the London Blitz which began in September 1940. Branson was then living in Battersea where he would have witnessed at first hand the devastating air raids. In this painting he employs surrealistic juxtapositions and unusual perspectives to imbue the painting with a startling visual intensity, while at the same time giving an overt critique of the war. The determined face of the woman on the left, (possibly a portrait of the artist’s wife, Noreen Branson) rescuing some of her possessions from the scene of the recent attack confronts the viewer whose attention is also drawn towards the dramatically foreshortened chair, empty cigarette packet and striped barrier. The sky, filled with barrage balloons to prevent bombing by the Luftwaffe, is lit up by two searchlights which make an aggressive pattern over a factory.