Exhibition Theme - Service

Tocumwal - loading the train

Along with other "friendly aliens" (refugees from Axis countries), Bergner was employed with No. 6 Employment Company, based at Tocumwal, in New South Wales. Drawing upon personal experience, he evokes a mood of dejection and exhaustion. The bleak palette of muted browns augments the atmosphere of gloom. The four anonymous figures, their bodies slumped dejectedly, have survived another day of endless loading and unloading goods trains as part of the war effort.

Oil on canvas 65 x 94.3 cm
Painted in Victoria, 1944
Acquired in 2003
Australian War Memorial
ART92132

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