JEWELLERY, ANTIQUE & ART AUCTION Tuesday, 8 September 2020 - 10:00 AM start
Peter McIntyre (1910-1995)
Lot Details
'New Zealand Infantry' c.1940-1943, graphite on paper, signed, inscribed bottom left corner: 'To face No.18'. 640 x 520mm. Provenance: Gifted to a friend of the artist, a military collector. Note: McIntyre was New Zealand’s first official war artist and one of four official war artists for the NZ division in WWII, he completed many portraits of NZ heroes, military strategies and a noted series on the life of a New Zealand soldier, both in the front lines and in the rear areas, of which this work is from. Illustrated 'Peter McIntyre War Artist' by Peter McIntyre, 1981. Note: Another watercolour version of this work showing two soldiers of the New Zealand Infantry in Egypt is held in the Archives New Zealand collection, 'Item ID R22505113' and illustrated 'The Art of War' by Jennifer Haworth 2007 pg. 34. Note: The extract associated with this image in the book 'Peter McIntyre War Artist' by Peter McIntyre, 1981 states: 'General Montgomery made his usual attack in the middle with the British 50th Division, and once again the New Zealanders made a left hook. This time the battle did not go so well. The 50th crossed the Wadi Zigzaou with great difficulty and were caught in the open on the side because of it's depth. They were without the support of tanks or even anti-tank guns, and in some confusion they were withdrawn. This left the New Zealand Division exposed on the left flank where they had driven for El Hamma - behind the enemy lines. Rommel promptly concentrated his main forces on them, The situation was indeed bad but this was where Montgomery showed his true genius. He opened up a new front, between the New Zealanders and the coastal sector, then threw in all the tanks and aircraft that he had in support of the New Zealanders. It was an awful risk to take, to concentrate his whole armour at one point: but it worked. The Germans began to give in the centre and then the New Zealanders went into the attack. Before long it was all over and Rommel was once more in retreat, leaving behind as usual, thousands of Italian infantry to become prisoners.Without Montgomery's quickness of thought and action the battle might bogged down for weeks.'
