Sunday church service at 1st TAF, Labuan, 1945 August, by Max Newton

129.0018

Sunday church service at 1st TAF, Labuan, 1945 August, by Max Newton

1945 August

Max Newton (1919-1975)

still image

watercolour with ink on paper; 28.8 x 35.2 cm (image)

Australian War Memorial, Canberra, accession no. ART26807; photograph held among the Max Newton papers, private collection, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Signed and dated in black pen lower left, recto: ‘Max Newton 45'.

War artists -- Australia -- 20th century. Australia -- History, Military. War in art. World War, 1939-1945 -- Art and the war. World War, 1939-1945 -- Malaysia.

Jane Eckett

painting

Labuan, Malaysia

Commissioned 1945.

RAAF War Paintings Exhibition [Harold Freedman, Eric Thake, Max Newton], Canberra: Royal Australian Air Force; exhibition toured Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria; Sydney: National Art Gallery of New South Wales; Brisbane: Queensland National Art Gallery; Adelaide: National Gallery of South Australia; Perth: Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery of Western Australia; Hobart: The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, touring exhibition, 1946, catalogue no. 98 (as Church Service, drawing, August 1945, Sunday Church Service as 1st T.A.F. Labaun).

The AWM describe this work as follows: ‘Depicts a large tent set up to function as a church with benches and an altar at the front with crosses. A priest stands at the front of the church tent delivering a sermon. Max (Thomas Maxwell) Newton enlisted with the AIF. He was seconded to the RAAF War History Section as an Official War Artist in 1945. He travelled to Labuan and Morotai as part of his appointment, where he recorded aspects of the RAAF involvement in the Pacific during the Second World War.’

Photographer unknown; scan of photograph courtesy Tony Lee and the Newton family

29 December 2020

29 December 2020