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The Gas Mask

© courtesy of the family of the artist. Image credit: Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales

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Notes

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In each of Kennington’s images a soldier dominates the foreground, contextualised by the scene behind him. This soldier is practising putting on his gas mask. More soldiers are helped with theirs behind him. The masks were to protect the soldiers from chemical attacks, such as mustard gas, which was used for the first time in the First World War. Although set in a trench, the image does not capture the harsh, dirty conditions that the soldiers encountered there. Showing soldiers in training and at the Front, these prints were described by one journalist as capturing ‘the spirit of our new, young army’. Kennington was probably chosen for this subject as he had himself enlisted with the 13th (Kensington) Battalion London Regiment and fought on the Western Front in France in 1914–1915.

Title

The Gas Mask

Date

1917

Medium

lithograph on paper

Measurements

H 50.9 x W 41 cm

Accession number

NMW A 13166

Acquisition method

gift from H. M. Ministry of Information, 1919

Work type

Print

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National Museum Cardiff

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