242:. In a letter in the War Artists’ Archive of the Museum, Gray described the real event upon which this painting is based, and provided a key showing the men he planned to depict. He explained that the appeal of doing such a composition is that it was part of a typical night operation which he himself had participated in many times, as well as being a great moment in a famous battle.
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cities might be protected from the growing threat of German air attack. He visited the
Imperial War Museum, using his contacts to gain access to the extensive archive of German, French and English camouflage materials and began a study of large-scale static camouflage. By 1936 he had completed his treatise,
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way into other regiments and other services, it is the Fourth Black Watch that essentially personifies for us both the splendour and sorrow of our sacrifice. Individually we may follow the fortunes of other units, but in the Fourth, the whole city finds glory in victory and grief in adversity,” he wrote.
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between
December 1917 and January 1918. A stickler for accuracy, he worked from his own recollections and other eyewitness testimonies, intending it as both a history and a tribute to the men with whom he had served. “Although many hundreds of gallant men from this corner of Scotland have found their
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were widely exhibited and reproduced, and sold well both at home and in
America. In the decade 1925-1935 he produced about 50 plates, mainly drypoints. The majority of his engravings depicted architectural or landscape views. Printed in signed editions of seventy-five impressions, they entered into
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During the early years of World War Two he also devised a kind of steel wool camouflage which was used to conceal large military bases and factories from air attack. Gray's notes from his time as a camouflage officer and his research and experiments into steel wool are now kept in the
Imperial War
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The newspaper wrote. "Here are shown no gay trappings, glittering swords, and noble horses, but plain, steadfast, unconquerable men, standing with their faces to the foe and grasping their fixed bayonets in the firm determination to win or die.” Gray's reputation grew and he executed war paintings
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were quickly recognised. He was appointed an observer, a role which involved many expeditions into the firing line to make sketches of enemy positions. He was also called upon to duplicate trench maps, as he did before the Battle of
Festubert, marking out the positions of the men of his battalion.
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Towards the end of the decade Gray became increasingly certain there would be another war. Aware he would be too old to return to the firing line, he began to consider other ways where his experience and skills might be put to use and he became interested in camouflage, specifically how
Britain's
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Gray went on to paint several regimental commissions and he wrote to the
Imperial War Museum many times requesting the loan of equipment to make his work ‘authentic.’ He wrote, “I will not do anything unreal or false… my pictures show the war as it was.” He refused to do anything in the ‘Romantic
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In the 1920s Joseph Gray and his family moved to
Westbrook, Broughty Ferry, which had both a studio and a printing room. Before the move Gray had worked on paintings of wartime subjects, but here he hoped to find new inspiration elsewhere and overseas, travelling to the Netherlands, Belgium and
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where he focused on oil painting, but despite producing a great many canvases he proved increasingly reluctant to part with any. Gray died on 1 May 1963 and it was only after his death that his widow was able to organise an exhibition of his paintings, held at the
Grosvenor Galleries in 1966.
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etchings series. During this time Gray's works still helped raise money for regimental charities, in particular the Fine Art Draw of May 1940, where 100 valuable original signed etchings and prints by celebrated artists were raffled for Andrew
Paterson's
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Joseph Gray, he trained as a sea-going engineer before attending South Shields Art School. He travelled extensively – to Spain, France, Germany and Russia – gathering material for his drawings, before settling in
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illustrated newspaper and contributed drawings and articles about different aspects of trench life. All his drawings were based on original sketches made during his time in the firing line.
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and in many private collections. In 2013 original samples of his preliminary sketches for the war paintings hanging in The Highlanders' Museum at Fort George went on display there.
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was presented to the city of Dundee. Gray granted them the publication rights to the picture, and copies were sold with profits given to the Black Watch Memorial Homes at
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Museum Archive. There are photographs, drawings, samples of material, reports and memoranda. To his co-workers he became infamous for his nightly rambles through the
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While working for the newspapers Gray received a number of painting commissions of military subjects and some of his drawings were submitted to the newly created
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in 1931, and planned to reinvent himself as a portrait painter, since his war commissions had always been praised for the accuracy of their depictions.
179:. There were a number of journalists who joined the 4th Battalion in the early stages of the war and they referred to themselves as ‘Fighter-Writers'.
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requested a full-length portrait, but Brocket died before any payment could be made. This virtually ruined Gray who gave up his studio.
124:-born painter and etcher of landscapes, architectural subjects and battlefield scenes. Some of his most evocative work hangs in the
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His work is represented in the British Museum, The Victoria & Albert Museum, the Imperial War Museum, Dundee City Art Gallery,
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The Imperial War Museum bought seven and Gray was subsequently commissioned to paint a large oil based on one of his sketches,
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Joseph Gray and Agnes later divorced and he married Mary Meade in 1943, and after the war he moved with his second wife to
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but was eventually invalided out of service in March 1916. Back home he was appointed official war artist at
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and travelled all around the country visiting sites of national importance, working out ways to hide them.
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London streets, ignoring air raid warnings, witnessing scenes which he would later immortalise in the
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But as the decade advanced Dundee was hit by depression. His print sales declined, and after the
528:"WORLD WAR I EXHIBITION AT THE HIGHLANDERS' MUSEUM," The North Magazine, Autumn 2013, pp32-33.
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473:"WAR AS IT IS. THE SEAFORTHS AT NEUVE CHAPELLE," The Inverness Courier, 23 September 1920.
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Gray's first years in London (1931–33) proved promising. He rented a studio in
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Imperial War Museum. War Artists Archive. First World War. File number 192/3.
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482:"DUNDEE'S OWN MEMORIAL OF NEUVE CHAPELLE," Dundee Advertiser, 1 April 1922.
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the American market disappeared completely. Gray moved with his family to
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A Ration Party of the 4th Black Watch at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle 1915
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Lady Butler Woodville style’ since ...“most people want straight stuff.”
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The 4th Black Watch Bivouac on the Night of the Battle of Neuve Chapelle
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Johnson & Creutzner - The Dictionary of British Artists 1880-1940.
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for several regiments, including his own. In April 1922 the painting
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of 23 September 1920 featured a photograph of Gray by his friend
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and different Regimental Museums throughout Britain.
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During 1915-1916 Gray sent back many reports to the
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Imperial War Museum Archive. Major J. Gray 83/38/1.
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182:Once he reached the trenches, Gray’s talents as a
149:by about 1912, to work as an illustrator for the
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203:In 1916 he married Agnes Mary Dye and moved to
455:Dundee Advertiser, December 1917-January 1918.
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163:Gray joined the 4th (Dundee) Battalion, the
437:M. Hall - The Artists of Northumbria, 1982.
327:alongside portraiture commissions. In 1933
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288:many public collections including the
621:Military personnel from Tyne and Wear
616:British Army personnel of World War I
395:The Highlanders Museum at Fort George
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343:. He was quickly recruited into the
256:The 4th Seaforths at Neuve Chapelle.
502:http://www.patersoncollection.co.uk
254:and reported on a recent painting,
513:6 artworks by or after Joseph Gray
211:, published in instalments in the
209:The History of the 4th Black Watch
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601:20th-century English male artists
323:. There he painted scenes of the
120:(6 June 1890 - 1 May 1963) was a
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596:People associated with Dundee
571:20th-century English painters
500:The Andrew Paterson website,
397:, South Shields Museum, the
339:, which he submitted to the
581:People from Durham, England
424:http://www.josephgray.co.uk
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611:Territorial Force soldiers
337:Camouflage and Air Defence
519:. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
422:The Joseph Gray website,
391:Scottish National Gallery
301:Wall Street Crash of 1929
155:and other publications.
136:Joseph Gray was born at
374:Marlow, Buckinghamshire
362:Camerons’ Comforts Fund
71:Marlow, Buckinghamshire
387:Leeds City Art Gallery
271:Etchings and drypoints
576:English male painters
606:Black Watch soldiers
283:Gray's etchings and
165:Black Watch Regiment
111:www.josephgray.co.uk
591:British war artists
586:World War I artists
321:John Singer Sargent
290:Victoria and Albert
235:in September 1918.
233:Imperial War Museum
126:Imperial War Museum
399:Highlanders Museum
381:Public collections
248:The Highland Times
357:Battle of Britain
311:Art of camouflage
214:Dundee Advertiser
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90:Years active
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566:1963 deaths
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197:The Graphic
184:draughtsman
118:Joseph Gray
79:Occupations
41:6 June 1890
25:Joseph Gray
555:Categories
405:References
341:War Office
227:War artist
132:Early life
103:Mary Meade
84:Camoufleur
67:1 May 1963
63:1963-05-01
37:1890-06-06
296:museums.
285:drypoints
173:Festubert
98:Spouse(s)
93:1912-1963
51:, England
292:and the
205:Barnhill
82:Painter-
353:blitzed
317:Chelsea
294:British
278:etching
222:Artwork
108:Website
73:England
517:Art UK
305:London
147:Dundee
122:Durham
177:Loos
175:and
57:Died
31:Born
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