St Paul's Cathedral by Eve Kirk, oil on canvas

This is one of several paintings Eve Kirk made of London’s wartime ruins and of St Paul’s Cathedral when, during the Blitz, she worked as an Air Raid Precautions warden while continuing to practise as a painter. She probably made this painting in 1941 in the aftermath of the 'Second Great Fire of London', when from 29-30 December 1940 the Cathedral and its environs were struck by 28 incendiary bombs.

In her struggle to make ends meet, in early December 1940 Kirk wrote directly to Sir Kenneth Clark, Chair of the War Artists' Advisory Committee (WAAC), in the hope of receiving commissioned work. She advised that the prospect of selling her pictures to British and American collectors in 'perhaps six months or a year' would not resolve her 'immediate financial difficulties'. Although it did not employ her as an Official War Artist, the Committee consequently purchased one of her ruin scenes (Imperial War Museums collection). By contrast, earlier that year Kirk had been commissioned for another of Clark's wartime schemes, the Pilgrim Trust’s ‘Recording Britain’. The multi-artist watercolour project set out to document the country's unspoilt landmarks and ways of life, which were perceived as under threat in wartime. For this, Kirk represented rural, coastal scenes. While male artists were favoured by the WAAC's project, this scheme’s less dramatic and picturesque subjects were deemed more appropriate for women artists. Kirk had studied at the Slade School of Fine Art before exhibiting topographical views of London and Mediterranean towns. Her paintings of London’s devastated architecture were inspired by her pre-war studies of ancient Greek and Italian ruins. Purchased in 1990. Copyright: the artist's estate / RAF Museum