Robert Austin

Sewing Worn Parts on Cradle Legs

1941

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Not on display

Artist: Robert Austin 1895–1973
Medium: Charcoal and ink on paper
Dimensions: Support: 540 x 660 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Presented by the War Artists Advisory Committee 1946
Reference: N05676

Catalogue entry

N05676 SEWING WORN PARTS ON CRADLE LEGS 1941

Inscr. ‘Austin 1941’ b.r.
Charcoal, pen and ink, 21 1/4×26 (54×66).
Presented by the War Artists' Advisory Committee 1946.
Exh: National War Pictures, provincial galleries, 1943, National Gallery, 1945, and R.A., October–November 1945 (915).
Repr: Laura Knight, War Pictures by British Artists: Second Series: Women, 1943, p.42.

Cradle legs are ropes which were used for tethering balloons while on the ground. When they got worn and frayed they needed ‘whipping’ or binding with thin cord or yarn, and since they were permanently attached at the central anchorage, this work had to be done in situ by personnel of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force.

Published in:
Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, London 1964, I