Camouflaged Bombers by Graham Sutherland, gouache on paper

Better known for his grotesque and surreal visions of bomb damage, Graham Sutherland had also made gouache paintings of bomber aircraft early in the Second World War. Three were purchased by the War Artists’ Advisory Committee (WAAC).

Considered one of the greatest modern painters of his time, Sutherland was described by the WAAC as ‘young, talented and sensitive’, with an ‘imaginative vision of the war’. In May 1940 ‘Camouflaged Bombers’ was exhibited at the Leicester Galleries’ ‘England in Wartime’ exhibition, and from May 1941 it was shown paired with Sutherland's 'Picketed Aircraft' in New York at the Museum of Modern Art’s ambitious ‘Britain at War’ exhibition. From the Air Ministry allocation of works from the War Artists' Advisory Committee, 1947. Original accession number: LD372. On loan from the RAF Air Historical Branch (MOD). Copyright: Crown (expired) / RAF Museum.