Aftermath - Seven Poems and Wood Engravings from Drawings made in London and Bristol after the Air Raids of the Second World War

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Aftermath - Seven Poems and Wood Engravings from Drawings made in London and Bristol after the Air Raids of the Second World War

Artist John Kingsley Cook (Winchcombe, England, 1911 - 1994)

PublisherPublished by Centaur Press London

Date1986

Mediumwood engraving on paper

ClassificationsPrints

DimensionsPaper Size: 37.7 x 28.1cm
Book Size: 38.6 x 29 x 1.7cm

AcquisitionPresented in 2012 by Bridget Cook.

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDAG017660

Keywords

About MeDuring the Second World War, Cook served in the Merchant Navy as a wireless operator. His ship was sunk off the coast of Algeria in 1941 and the survivors were taken captive and held until liberated the following year after the Allied landing in North Africa.

In the introduction to this volume of poems and wood engravings, he wrote: "During the Second World War, in periods of leave from service in the Merchant Navy, I made a number of drawings of bombed buildings in London and Bristol; most were untouched since their sudden change, some showed signs of attempted salvage, others still smouldered.

They contained many strange and sometimes poignant reminders of the people who were gone; a vase of flowers upon a shelf perched above empty chaos, open cupboards with neatly folded clothes in shattered bedrooms...How long, in this unstable world, would they survive? Meanwhile, in the old foundations, wild gardens grew. The ivy, green mosses slowly advanced to cover the evidence of man's folly.”
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This poignant collection reflects on the lives lost during the Second World War.