Muddy Days, after End of War. Feb.1919
Date made: February 1919
Artist: Kenner, George
Description: View of Knockaloe Civilian Internment Camp showing a series of wooden huts and the muddy areas in between connected by wooden duckboard pathways. It is a busy scene, showing internees taking part in daily activities – exercising, chatting, carrying ration buckets, preparing for the day. The barbed wire fence is a constant presence. Most of the men seem to be keeping to the wooden boards, to avoid the mud, but if you look closely one man appears to be walking through the mud on homemade stilts.
The painting also shows the internment camp exercise and playing fields, together with allotments in the background. To the foreground of the painting we can see two camp guards in uniform chatting.
A copy of George Kenner's journal is in MNH Archives Reference No.: MS 11425.
Background:
During the First World War (1914-1918) the Isle of Man was used as an internment base for civilian ‘enemy aliens’. They were held in two camps, a requisitioned holiday camp in Douglas and a purpose built camp located at Knockaloe near Peel on the west coast of the Island. These held at their peaks over 4,000 and 23,000 men in some cases for nearly five years between opening in 1914 and final closure in 1919. Over 30,000 men passed through Knockaloe between 1914 and 1917, more than the population of Douglas.
Measurements: overall: 39.8 cm x 60.8 cm;artwork: 33.3 cm x 54.7 cm
Materials: Watercolour on paper
Object name: watercolour painting
Collection: Art Collection
ID number: 2006-0065
Subject tags : #ArtGallery
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