Study for Bristol Aeroplane Company, Corsham by Olga Lehmann, graphite on paper

A versatile painter, illustrator and designer, Olga Lehmann was one of few wartime artists who received steady commissions outside of the Official War Artists’ scheme.

As a student at the Slade School of Fine Art Lehmann had excelled in mural painting, and in 1943 she was invited to paint murals for the Bristol Aeroplane Company’s underground factory at Corsham, where aircraft engines were made. With fellow mural painter, Gilbert Wood, she created colourful, imaginative leisure scenes to ‘provide a measure of cheer for the workers’ on the factory’s walls. In this drawing Lehmann celebrated the ‘underground city’ itself, depicting its winding passages and electric vehicles. It is one of a number of drawings and watercolours she made on the theme, besides an oil painting, in the RAF Museum collection. 'We walked around part of the factory and could see, down at the sides, rows of workers and the enormous machines at which they worked. I suppose it was all supposed to be top secret, but I made little sketches in my sketchbook anyway. It all seemed endless, like an underground city. I noticed other, similar, tunnels to the one we were walking in, threading their way up and down. Here and there little electric vehicles hummed about, driven by girls at the helm, looking like ships’ figureheads. They were all dressed in dungarees and wore their hair tied up in cloths of various colours' - Olga Lehmann. Purchased in 2020 from the Boundary Gallery. Copyright: the artist's estate / RAF Museum.