© the artist's estate. Courtesy Imperial War Museum
Bourlon Wood
William Crozier
- Art Funded
- 2016
- Dimensions
- 154 x 123 cm
- Vendor
- Piano Nobile Fine Paintings
William Crozier IWM, London The title of William CrozierÂ’s oil painting Bourlon Wood refers to an area of forest in northern France which became highly contested during the First World War.
This violent moment in the landscapeÂ’s history is represented by the skeletal figure in the painting, a tin helmet still resting on the skull. Crozier, who studied at Glasgow School of Art, gained critical attention in London during the 1960s for his colourful, near-abstract landscape paintings. The appearance of skeletons in the pictures of this period reflects CrozierÂ’s pacifism and concerns with the bleakness and brutality of 20th-century warfare.
Provenance
The artist's estate.