Lot 110: •ELLIS SILAS (b. 1882) THE CITY OF LONDON FOLLOWING A WORLD WAR I ZEPPELIN RAID

•ELLIS SILAS (b. 1882)
THE CITY OF LONDON FOLLOWING A WORLD WAR I ZEPPELIN RAID
signed l.l.: Ellis Silas, watercolour and gouache
50cm by 35cm; 19 3/4in by 13 3/4in
Born in London, son of flower painter Louis Silas. Studied under his father and under W.R. Sickert. Official war artist for the Australian Government in World War I; Crusading in Anzac is based on his front-line sketchbooks. He afterwards spent three years living Gauguin-style, among the natives of Papua, recording his impressions in pencil sketches and watercolours. Painter of landscapes and seascapes in oil and watercolour, designer of stained glass windows, murals, posters, cards and souvenirs. President of the London Sketch Club (1930).