3 February
–
23 April 2006
Section
1: Defining DocumentaryWilliam Coldstream 1908-1987
Havildar Ajmer Singh 1943
© Estate of the Artist
This portrait epitomises the ethos of the Euston Road School, co-founded by Coldstream in 1937, which aimed to establish an objective approach to realism, based on rigorous observation, and socially relevant art. Coldstream painted a number of Indian soldiers whilst posted as a war artist in Egypt. He had personal ties with India and this painting can be read as representing both his affection for India and also Britain's changing relationship to Empire.
Learn more about this
work in the Tate Collection