Study for "The Canadians Opposite Lens", 1917-8 (circa)

Ink on paper - Ink sur papier

10 1/4 x 16 in
26 x 40.6 cm

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Provenance

By repute: Ex. Coll. Caspar John (brother of the artist);
Private collection, Ontario.

<h2 class="cms_black" dir="ltr">AUGUSTUS JOHN (1878–1961)</h2>Augustus Edwin John, O.M.,R.A., was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. During World War I he held a commission as official artist in the Canadian Corps. As a consequence of this position, John was commissioned by Lord Beaverbrook to create the mural honouring the Canadian recapture of Hill 70 in France. He first exhibited a cartoon for [The] Canadian Opposite Lens at the Canadian War Memorial Exhibition in 1919.<img alt="Mural Painting, The Canadians Opposite Lens, c. 1918-1960, Oil on canvas, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Ontario, Object No. 20110067-001" src="https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy/ws-klinkhoff/usr/library/main/images/6283439657_04b22da4ac_b.jpg" /> Mural Painting, The Canadians Opposite Lens, c. 1918-1960, Oil on canvas, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Ontario, <a href="https://www.warmuseum.ca/collections/artifact/2226808/">Object No. 20110067-001</a><h2 dir="ltr">THE CAPTURE OF HILL 70 </h2>In the summer of 1917, the Battle of Hill 70 began. The Canadian Corps, under Lieutenant General Arthur Currie, began attacking the German 6th Army near Lens, France. This was the first major action by the Canadian Corps under Canadian leadership in the war. Currie was ordered to take the city of Lens directly, which the Germans had held since 1914. He reasoned with his British superiors that taking the city while the Germans still held the Hill 70 above would cause his men to be more exposed and was not sound strategy. The attack had been planned for July 30th but inclement weather postponed it to mid-August. Author Timothy Stewart wrote, “As the new date neared, Canadian artillery and Royal Engineers gas companies bombarded Lens and its environs with hundreds of gas shells. Before sunrise on the morning of the assault - 15 August - the Canadians lobbed 500 drums of blazing oil at selected targets to create a smokescreen and demoralize the defenders. As dawn broke, behind a rolling barrage, men of the 1st and 2nd Canadian Divisions left their trenches and moved onto Hill 70. In short order - twenty minutes - they gained the crest, and by 6:00 AM, after only 90 minutes, several troops had reached the final objective - the base of the hill on the enemy’s side, where they waited for the counterattacks. At 8:25 AM, the 4th Division to the south launched a second, diversionary attack on Lens itself.” <h2 class="cms_black" dir="ltr">MEMORIAL AT HILL 70</h2>Deemed “the forgotten victory” A monument dedicated to the Canadian Corps that achieved victory at the Battle of Hill 70 in August 1917 was opened to the public in August 2017 Loos-en-Gohelle, France. <img alt="Hill 70 Memorial, which commemorating the nearly 10,000 Canadian casualties during the battle." src="https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy/ws-klinkhoff/usr/library/main/images/screen-shot-2018-05-29-at-1.10.04-pm.png" height="364" width="632" /> <img alt="Hill 70 Memorial, which commemorating the nearly 10,000 Canadian casualties during the battle. " src="https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy/ws-klinkhoff/usr/library/main/images/screen-shot-2018-05-29-at-1.10.21-pm.png" height="592" width="469" />Hill 70 Memorial, which commemorating the nearly 10,000 Canadian casualties during the battle. <img alt="The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at the unveiling of Canadians Opposite Lens at the Canadian War Museum during their 2011 tour. " src="https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy/ws-klinkhoff/usr/library/main/images/6283439629_6469df85a7_b.jpg" /> The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at the unveiling of Canadians Opposite Lens at the Canadian War Museum during their 2011 tour.