An old watchman
Artist
Clem Millward
(Australian, born 1929)
Date1956-1957
Object number00017820
NameLinocut
MediumLino block print on paper
DimensionsOverall: 215 x 139 mm, 0.007 kg
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionPrint by Clem Millward titled 'An old watchman'.
The image depicts a man's head in profile, wearing a hat and glasses, against a black background.
The print number '11/35' appears lower left corner of sheet and is taken from "Old Waterfront Faces. A limited edition of eleven lino block prints made in the Waterside Workers' Federation rooms by Clem Millward 1956-1957."HistoryOld Waterfront Faces. A limited edition of eleven lino block prints made in the Waterside Workers' Federation rooms by Clem Millward 1956-1957. These prints show characterisations of waterside workers in the mid 1950s. They were produced by Clem Millward, a professionally trained artist who worked on Sydney's waterfront from 1956 to 1962.
During the 1950s, painting, printmaking and film production were pursued by some waterside workers through the Waterside Workers' Federation. Clem Millward painted and produced prints in the Waterside Workers' Federation's rooms in Sydney. He worked with other waterside workers on projects such as the union's mural (Now in the NMC).
This portfolio of eleven prints were produced in the Waterside Workers' Federation rooms in 1956-57 are based on drawings done around the waterfront. Clem Millward carried a pocket-sized pad and pencil while at work, making unobserved sketches on the job during 'smokos' and rain periods, on the Erskine Street tram and in hamburger cafes around the waterfront. On days when Clem was on "appearance money" or night shifts he used the daylight hours to redraw the sketches on linoleum, cut the blocks and print them on an old screwdown letter press in the studio above the union rooms. He never knew the names of these men.
Of this particular man Clem said; "While it is not a portarit of Raymong Longford, the image has always reminded me of a night shift worked on general cargo when the watchman in the 'tween deck was that great director of silent films. He was discovered on the wharves at that time by Eric Parker, a wharfie who projected films to a packed hall in the union rooms every lunch hour. When he found and projected 'The Sentimental Bloke' he also discovered Ray Longford many years before officialdom.
I only worked in the hatch once with him as watchman. He sat in the 'tween decks on a cold winter's night, wrapped in an overcoat, watching the night pass."Significance'These faces from "The Hungry Mile" belong to survivors of that generation which experienced the horrors of Gallipoli and Flanders; and could not talk about them; which endured the hardships and humiliations of the 1930s and could not forget them'.
Clem Millward, June 1992