The Flare

Dunn, Harvey Thomas · 1918-09

Charcoal and pastel drawing on paper of a scene in No Man's Land that is being lit by a flare burning overhead. Depicted at center are two soldiers carrying a body on a stretcher as they walk along a line of barbed wire. In the foreground at left another soldier is sitting on the ground by more barbed wire and what remains of a tree. On the right is a dead soldier lying next to his rifle, which is staked into the ground with a helmet hanging from the stalk, likely as a battlefield cross. There is another soldier in the background at right and a ruined village in the background at left. Rows of barbed wire are visible throughout. The sky is black with only the light from the flare illuminating the scene. Signed by the artist at bottom right, "Harvey Dunn, AEF, Sept. '18"