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A Duck's Egg

Artist Raphael Kirchner (Austrian, 1876 - 1917)

Datec 1900

Object number00015840

NamePrint

MediumPrint on paper

DimensionsOverall: 365 x 252 mm, 0.4 kg

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Jennifer Smyth

Terms

England

DescriptionPrint titled 'A Duck's Egg', by Austrian artist Raphael Kirchner. Kirchner, an Austrian artist, became exceptionally popular during WWI for his drawings of alluring females in postcard and magazine formats. His style and images became known as 'Kirchner Girls' and could be found in trenches, mess halls, ships and dugouts throughout the war. He became a forerunner and primary instigator of the 'pinup' genre. This particular print was likely purchased by Commander Geoffrey Haggard in Melbourne, circa 1919.History"Romantic themes were also popular. Lewis Baumer, Claude Shepperson and Edmund Blampied often drew pretty girls, fashion puns or sorrowful partings between sweethearts. The Sketch magazine in particular championed the work in particular of numerous artists and in Britain, pioneered the pin-up genre, publishing, in an exclusive deal, the work of Raphael Kirchner, whose sensual, coquettish Kirchner Girls were a sensation, and particularly popular with troops at the front who used them to enliven the walls of dugouts. The Sketch published one letter of gratitude, after one of his most popular pictures had been published: "Dear Sketch, I feel that a special vote of thanks should be rendered to your excellent publication in general, and Mr Raphael Kirchner in particular, for the coloured supplement of 'The Duck's Egg' hatching out on March 31. No officers' mess in the North of France is to be found without one or more of your cheering productions on its walls..." [Great War Britain: The First World War At Home, Lucinda Gosling, The History Press, 2014]SignificanceThe story of the submarine AE2 her Commander Henry Stoker and First Lieutenant, Geoffrey Haggard, and their infiltration of the Dardanelles in World War I is a highly significant Allied military and Australian naval episode. Although the event did not ultimately alter the course of the war it did demonstrate to Britain that Turkish waters could be breached. Subsequent submarine activity there by E11 and E14 severely hampered Turkish efforts to reinforce and supply their troops engaged at Gallipoli by forcing them to take the more arduous overland route.