First World War (1914–18) Official War Artist, George Benson’s bare-chested Gunner—tall, lean chiselled, poised—represents the classical ideal of male beauty. His virility is underscored symbolically (if not subtly) by the six-inch charge case nestled in his hands and the backgrounded howitzer rising from his loins.
ON LOAN COURTESY OF THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL ART19992
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