Men of Straw

"Men of Straw" may have evolved from an earlier smaller painting "The Battle of the Boggarts" (1949). Richard mentions the motivation for this smaller painting in his diary:
7th June 1948: "Stretched a few canvases including a 30x25 on which I started a grand subject suggested by Mavis [RE's wife] and Caroline [RE's older daughter] who are reading ‘Worzel Gummidge’ together – ‘The Battle of Scarecrows'."

'Men of Straw' is one of Eurich's weird pictures in which you do not know quite what is happening. There are plenty of ordinary people about, though relegated to the background, as the foreground is taken over by the men of straw (does the figurative meaning of the term as someone having no substance or integrity have any satirical relevance here?), who appear to be busily engaged in a production line of scarecrows. An elevator shifts straw from the rick yard to the field where empty suits of clothes are being stuffed. Is this the revenge of the straw men …

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'Men of Straw' is one of Eurich's weird pictures in which you do not know quite what is happening. There are plenty of ordinary people about, though relegated to the background, as the foreground is taken over by the men of straw (does the figurative meaning of the term as someone having no substance or integrity have any satirical relevance here?), who appear to be busily engaged in a production line of scarecrows. An elevator shifts straw from the rick yard to the field where empty suits of clothes are being stuffed. Is this the revenge of the straw men for the indignity of making them scarecrows for so many years? Regarding the proceedings (if not actually directing them) is a guy upon a flaming bonfire.

Richard notes in his sales diary that 'Men of Straw' was originally painted for the 1958 Pictures for Schools  exhibition, but it was rejected. Deemed too frightening for the children perhaps?