Paul Dury Sketchbook [1]

Paul Drury Sketchbook [1]:. 1. Graphite number list of contents. 2. Ink drawing of tree and fencing, anotated. 3. Ink drawing of part of building, anotated. 4. Ink drawing of tree, anotated. 5. Graphite sketch with notes. 6. Ink drawing of port scene with large house, two chimneys. 7. Smudged pencil sketch and ink scribbles . 8. Ink drawing of foliage and fence. 9. Ink drawing of rural scene with figures seated on bench. 10. Graphite sketch of sculpture with buildings behind. 11. Ink drawing of street scene with trees, anotated. 12. Ink drawing of river scene with bridge. 13. Ink drawing of foliage annotated. 14. Light ink drawing of trees. 15. Ink drawing of woodland anotated. 16. Ink drawing of branches smudged with pencil. 17. Ink drawing budleah and butterflies anotated. 18. Rough ink sketch of figures in deckchairs from behind. 19. Cut off ink sketch, possibly leg. 20. Pencil sketch of figures of air raid shelter 'Twickenham' anotated. 21. Graphite sketch of head with hat and spectacles and figure holding child. 22. Ink sketch of air raid shelter. 23. Graphite sketch of dangling feet. 24. Ink sketch of torso of surgeon. 25. Ink sketch of bound feet. 26. Ink sketch of sleeping patient anotated. 27. Ink sketch of bunk beds. 28. Ink sketch of sleeping patient. 29.Ink sketch of sleeping amputee. 30. Ink sketch of legs anotated. 31. Ink sketch of bunks (air raid shelter?). 32. Rough ink sketch of bunks (Air raid shelter?). 33. Rough ink sketch of arm and amputated limb. 34. Rough ink sketch leg. 35. Rough ink sketch of leg splint and cast. 36. Rough ink sketch of leg, foot and leg splint. 37. Rough ink sketch of plaster cast, foot, hand and arm. 38. Rough ink sketch of prosthetic feet and hands. 39. Rough ink sketch plaster beds and crutches stacked. 40. Graphite sketch. 41. Graphite sketch of torso in apron. 42. Graphite sketch of plaster bed. 43. Graphite sketch of leg and ink sketch plaster cast. 44. Rough ink study of watercolour of PYLONES. 45. Graphite study for PYLONES. 46. Graphite sketch torso and equipment. 47. Ink sketch of prosthetic feet. 48. Smudged charcoal sketch of vase of flowers. 49. Pencil sketch of operating theatre (?). 50. Ink sketch of technician from behind. 51. Graphite sketch of technicians around patient on trolley. 52. Rough ink sketch for AIR RAID SHELTER FRAMED. 53. Rough graphite sketch. 54. Graphite and ink list - possibly 'Howlers written to Min of Pensions'.

Paul Drury is best known as an accomplished etcher of portraits and landscapes. Part of the etching revival in the 1920s, Drury became head of the Etching Department at Goldsmiths from 1946 and President of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers from 1970. Relatively unknown, however, is his work during the Second World War at Queen Mary’s Hospital (QMH) Roehampton, which was founded in 1915 to cater to the huge numbers of amputee soldiers injured in the First World War.

Drury was posted to QMH as an assistant in the plaster workshop of the artificial limb unit in 1939, where he worked until the end of the war. Whilst there, he obtained permission from the War Artists Advisory Committee to make records of his experiences, producing a mix of finished and preparatory drawings, etchings, paintings and pastels that are represented in this collection of works. Through these, Drury captured the everyday activities of technicians, doctors and nursing staff alongside the wounded themselves, showing us a little of their personalities and emotions in portraits and group scenes. The works also introduce the wider experiences of convalescence at QMH during the war, including sheltering patients during air-raids, treatments for wounded limbs and the card games played to pass the time.