Evelyn Dunbar

A Land Girl and the Bail Bull

1945

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

License this image

In Tate Britain

Walk Through British Art: 1940

Free entry
Artist
Evelyn Dunbar 1906–1960
Medium
Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions
Support: 914 x 1829 mm
frame: 1085 x 2000 x 80 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Presented by the War Artists Advisory Committee 1946
Reference
N05688

Display caption

Dunbar was working as a mural painter before she was appointed an Official War Artist in 1940. She was commissioned to record the ‘Land Army’ at work. This picture, she said, was ‘painted at Strood towards the end of the war, about 1944-5. It is an imaginative painting of a Land Girl’s work with an outdoor dairy herd on the Hampshire Downs. The bail is the moveable shed where the milking is done ... the girl has to catch and tether the bull: she entices him with a bucket of fodder and hides the chain behind her, ready to snap on to the ring in his nose as soon as it is within her reach.’

Gallery label, June 2018

Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.

Catalogue entry

N05688 A LAND GIRL AND THE BAIL BULL 1945
 
Inscr. ‘Evelyn Dunbar 45’ b.r.
Canvas, 36×72 (91×183).
Presented by the War Artists' Advisory Committee 1946.
Exh: National War Pictures, R.A., October–November 1945 (981).

The artist wrote (7 May 1956): ‘Painted at Strood towards the end of the war, about 1944–5. It is an imaginative painting of a Land Girl's work with an outdoor dairy herd on the Hampshire Downs. The bail is the movable shed where the milking is done. Soon after dawn in the early summer the girl has to catch and tether the bull: she entices him with a bucket of fodder and hides the chain behind her, ready to snap on to the ring in his nose as soon as it is within her reach - a delicate and dangerous job.’

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

British War Art

Features

Jo Spence, ‘The Highest Product of Capitalism (after John Heartfield)’ 1979

Women and Power: A walk through Tate Britain

Explore stories of women’s empowerment across the centuries through works in our collection

Explore

You might like

Evelyn Dunbar, ‘Winter Garden’ c.1929–37

Evelyn Dunbar Winter Garden

c.1929–37
N05212
Duncan Grant, ‘Girl at the Piano’ 1940

Duncan Grant Girl at the Piano

1940
N05171
Geoffrey Tibble, ‘The Mug’ 1948

Geoffrey Tibble The Mug

1948
T03656
Geoffrey Tibble, ‘Dressing’ 1944

Geoffrey Tibble Dressing

1944
T03658
Geoffrey Tibble, ‘Demolition of Verlaine’s House’ 1938

Geoffrey Tibble Demolition of Verlaine’s House

1938
T05748
Richard Eurich, ‘Night Raid on Portsmouth Docks’ 1941

Richard Eurich Night Raid on Portsmouth Docks

1941
On display at Tate Britain part of Walk Through British Art N05690
James Bateman, ‘Cattle Market’ 1937

James Bateman Cattle Market

1937
N04958
Sir Stanley Spencer, ‘Rickett’s Farm, Cookham Dene’ 1938

Sir Stanley Spencer Rickett’s Farm, Cookham Dene

1938
N04942
Duncan Grant, ‘The Hayrick’ 1940

Duncan Grant The Hayrick

1940
N05428
Geoffrey Tibble, ‘Still Life’ 1929

Geoffrey Tibble Still Life

1929
T00946
Duncan Grant, ‘Garden Path in Spring’ 1944

Duncan Grant Garden Path in Spring

1944
T05757
Gilbert Spencer, ‘Blackmore Vale from Compton Abbas’ 1942

Gilbert Spencer Blackmore Vale from Compton Abbas

1942
N05554
Geoffrey Tibble, ‘Three Women’ 1930

Geoffrey Tibble Three Women

1930
T03655
Duncan Grant, ‘Vanessa Bell’ 1942

Duncan Grant Vanessa Bell

1942
N05405
Duncan Grant, ‘Landscape, Sussex’ 1920

Duncan Grant Landscape, Sussex

1920
N05075