Mulberry - The Prefabricated Harbour Assembled, Selsey Bill (1944)
Photo: Imperial War Museum      
© IWM Art.IWM ART LD 5189

Mulberry - The Prefabricated Harbour Assembled, Selsey Bill

1944

Oil on canvas
37.4 x 81.9 cm

Imperial War Museum, London


Seascapes | Coastal Scenes Panoramas Ships | Boats | Harbours | Ports All Works in Public Collections Official War Artist Narrative Works | 1940 to 1949 Commissioned Works Wartime The Art of Richard Eurich

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Recto: Signed and inscribed lower left: R Eurich. Selsey Bill, May 1944

Aka: Mulberry - The Prefabricated Harbour Assembled, Selsey Bill; Mulberry – the Pre-Fabricated Harbour Assembled; Mulberry: The Prefabricated Harbour Assembled, Kelsey Bill [Art UK]; Selsey Bill 1944 [RE sales diary]

Other measurements: 37.4 x 81.9 cm; 36.8 x 81.9 cm

England Selsey The South West Sussex IWM Imperial War Museum WW2 WWII World War 2 World War II beach boats ships dinghy dragon's teeth flag floating harbour public collection sea tank traps war war artist wartime

22nd May 1944: To Selsey with Commanders Kimmins and Moore to see the subject to be painted: Mulberry Harbour for the landings in Normandy.

RE diary entry

From an interview with Richard done for the Imperial War Museum in about 1990
"That is the Mulberry harbour being assembled at Southsea Bill, prior to D-Day which took place about a fortnight after I was down there. It was very interesting. They wouldn’t tell me what it was for, but they took me out in a duck. It was most extraordinary. It was like a lot of factories standing up out of the water. I had some pretty plain idea what it was. And it was eventually towed across to Normandy of course, where it became an artificial harbour …

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From an interview with Richard done for the Imperial War Museum in about 1990
"That is the Mulberry harbour being assembled at Southsea Bill, prior to D-Day which took place about a fortnight after I was down there. It was very interesting. They wouldn’t tell me what it was for, but they took me out in a duck. It was most extraordinary. It was like a lot of factories standing up out of the water. I had some pretty plain idea what it was. And it was eventually towed across to Normandy of course, where it became an artificial harbour for our landing craft to go into to land. It was certainly one of the most extraordinary things of the war."

Provenance

COMMISSIONED | 1945

by the Admiralty / War Artists' Advisory Committee

GIFTED | 1947

Imperial War Museum, London

from the War Artists' Advisory Committee; accession number IWM ART LD 5189

EXHIBITED | 25th Nov 1979 to 20th Jan 1980

"Richard Eurich, RA - A Retrospective Exhibition" - Cartwright Hall Gallery, Bradford District Museums and Galleries, Bradford    (toured Glasgow, London, Southampton)

Cat 33

EXHIBITED | 26th Sep 1991 to 12th Jan 1992

"Richard Eurich - From Dunkirk to D-Day" - Imperial War Museum, London, UK

Cat 30

EXHIBITED | 27th May to 31st Oct 2021

"SEASIDE MODERN: ART & LIFE ON THE BEACH (1910-1960)" - Hastings Contemporary, Hastings

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Provenance:

  • COMMISSIONED - 1945 - by the Admiralty / War Artists' Advisory Committee
  • GIFTED - 1947 - Imperial War Museum, London
    from the War Artists' Advisory Committee; accession number IWM ART LD 5189

Exhibitions:

  • 25th Nov 1979 to 20th Jan 1980 - "Richard Eurich, RA - A Retrospective Exhibition", Cartwright Hall Gallery, Bradford District Museums and Galleries, Bradford    (toured Glasgow, London, Southampton)
    Cat 33
  • 26th Sep 1991 to 12th Jan 1992 - "Richard Eurich - From Dunkirk to D-Day", Imperial War Museum, London, UK
    Cat 30
  • 27th May to 31st Oct 2021 - "SEASIDE MODERN: ART & LIFE ON THE BEACH (1910-1960)", Hastings Contemporary, Hastings

Notes:

  • None recorded.

Sketches  

study for this work

study for this work
Image © Richard Eurich Paintings

Related  

Shipping in the Solent (1979)

Image © The Maas Gallery

 

Falmouth (1936)

Image © Richard Eurich Paintings

 

Ships of All Nations Assembling off Spithead, 14 June 1953 for Coronation Review by the Queen, 15 June 1953 (1953-54)

Image © Portsmouth Museums and Visitor Services

 

Spithead Jubilee Review (1977)

Image © Richard Eurich Paintings

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