Focus on this artwork and discuss the History.
During the Second World War the British government formed the War Artists' Advisory Committee (WAAC) under the chairmanship of Sir Kenneth Clark, the director of the National Gallery. The committee was "to draw up a list of artists qualified to record the war at home and abroad". One of those commissioned on several occasions was the British painter Laura Knight, who had painted for the Canadian government during the First World War. By early 1942 she had painted four pictures for the WAAF; the most recent was In for Repairs, showing members of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) repairing a damaged barrage balloon. The Air Ministry was impressed with the picture and its potential to help with recruiting. The Ministry asked the WAAF if Knight could be commissioned again, and, in October 1941, she received a request from Mr Dickey, the Secretary of the WAAC, to paint members of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force based at RAF Wythall—the regional headquarters of RAF Balloon Command—which was six miles (ten kilometres) from Birmingham. She worked on the piece in July and August 1942, and was paid 100 guineas for the work.A Balloon Site was displayed at the 1943 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, as was Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring, a painting Knight had just completed. Both works were warmly received. As at 2024, the painting is held by the Imperial War Museum.
Sir Kenneth Clark Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring Birmingham Second World War Laura Knight War Artists' Advisory Committee barrage balloon Imperial War Museum Royal Academy Summer Exhibition RAF Balloon Command Women's Auxiliary Air Force First World War Kenneth Clark National Gallery guineas Wythall Air Ministry