About this artwork

In this ink and watercolour sketch, Cadell has captured the essence of the scene with an economy of line and colour. The drawing depicts a dashing soldier chatting to a girl. The artist has specified that the girl is a ‘flapper’, a term used in the 1920s to describe a particular type of liberated young woman. Cadell joined the Royal Scots in 1915 and this is one of a series of drawings of army life he produced before leaving for service in France. The drawings were published in 1916 in the book ‘Jack and Tommy’, and sold to benefit the Red Cross. Their clean lines and flat colours anticipate Cadell’s painting style of the 1920s.

Updated before 2020

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Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell

Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell