Wadsworth, Edward – Drydocked for Painting and Scaling

DescriptionWoodcut 1918; original size: 22.2 x 20.3cm.British merchantmen were camouflaged to deter the abilities of German u-boat gunners to ascertain their speed and course, but the action of the sea and salt of the Atlantic Ocean was so corrosive that they had to be re-painted every four to six months.As per the description for the companion print Liverpool Shipping, this striking image is in some ways an inaccurate portrayal because dazzle was in fact applied in many colours. In these prints, however, Wadsworth reduces forms to their most essential, and replaces colour with a bold black and white. And by so doing Wadsworth creates two of the most optically powerful woodcut prints to derive from the First World War.