This painting is portraying Canadian sappers constructing a tunnel. The men are working to erect support timbers inside the interior. Now, the story behind this.
In 1914, the Germans exploded mines under British positions, in Belgium. The British recruited professional miners in response, This was one of the 19 mines exploded at the launch of the Messines Offensive, which helped the British 41's division help capture the village. David Bomberg, who served in the Royal Engineers, was commissioned to paint the operation in 1918.
What is the tone of the piece?
To me, it brings a feel, by the way everything is distorted, it seems like it was very noisy, and maybe aggressive. It seems like there are a lot of men who are to get something important done, quickly.
How do I think the artist felt about the war?
By the dark atmosphere of the painting, I feels as if the artist felt like it was a pretty depressing time.
Again, it gives off kind of a very aggressive feeling to me. So, I think it's safe to say, he didn't see it as the brightest of times.
Do I think this accurately portrays what the war was like?
I think so. It portrays all the action, and how loud it was. The dark colours also accurately portray the emotion.
This is a very interesting piece of art - much different than the more traditional war art that we are used to seeing. I think "aggressive" is an excellent descriptor for the tone!
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