Alan Moore (war artist)
{{Short description|Australian war artist during World War II}}
{{other people|Alan Moore}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use Australian English|date=September 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}}
{{infobox person
| name = Alan Moore
| image = War artist Alan Moore (AWM image 061535).png
| caption = Alan Moore in 1943
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1914|08|01|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Melbourne, Australia
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2015|09|24|1914|08|01|df=yes}}
| death_place = Ballarat, Australia
| nationality = Australian
| occupation = War artist, artist, art teacher
| known_for = Drawings, photographs, paintings of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
}}
Alan Moore (1 August{{nbsp}}1914{{snd}}24 September 2015) was an Australian war artist during World War II. He is best known for his images of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp,{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-25/war-artist-who-drew-horrors-of-concentration-camp-dies/6804928|title=Alan Moore: Australian war artist who drew horrors of Nazi concentration camp dies in Victoria|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|date=2015-09-25|access-date=2015-09-27}}{{cite news|url=http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/bergenbelsen-war-artist-alan-moore-dead-at-101-20150925-gjvcus.html|title=Bergen-Belsen war artist Alan Moore dead at 101|publisher=The Canberra Times|date=2015-09-25|access-date=2015-09-27}} and the Australian War Memorial holds many of his works.
Early life
Moore was born in Melbourne in 1914.{{cite web|url=https://www.awm.gov.au/people/P65112/|title=Alan Moore|publisher=Australian War Memorial|access-date=2015-09-27}} He began life drawing art classes at age 16, but was forbidden by his father from continuing because the subjects were nude. He took up his studies again when he turned 18, at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, this time completing his studies to obtain a degree.{{cite web|url=https://open.abc.net.au/explore/80563|title=Alan Moore: WWII artist turns 100|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|author=Emily Bissland|date=2014-09-26|access-date=2015-09-27}} He also studied under J.S. Watkins in Sydney.{{cite web|url=http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/artwar/artists/alan-moore_e.shtml
|title=Moore, Alan (b. 1914)|publisher=Canadian Museum of History|access-date=2015-09-27}}{{cite web|url=http://www.mcmurraygalleries.com.au/alanmoore/alanmooreindex2.html|title=Alan Moore|publisher=McMurray Galleries|access-date=2015-09-27|archive-date=24 July 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724164153/http://www.mcmurraygalleries.com.au/alanmoore/alanmooreindex2.html|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.artrecord.com/index.cfm/artist/427-moore-alan/|title=Alan Moore (1915-.) Australia|publisher=Australian Art Auction Record|access-date=2015-09-27}}
He won several art and drawing prizes in Melbourne, including the Grace Joel scholarship prize in 1942 for a nude painting.{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12010011|title=Art prize won by technical college student|newspaper=The Argus|page=3|location=Melbourne, Victoria|date=1942-12-18|access-date=2015-09-27}}
On 14 July 1939{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22328096|title=I heard and saw|newspaper=The Argus|location=Melbourne, Victoria|page=11 S|date=1946-07-10|access-date=2015-09-27}} Moore married this first wife, Maria.
Career
=During the war=
File:Holocaust horror, blind man walking through the Belsen concentration camp.jpg after it was liberated.]]
Moore enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in 1942, where he was tasked with drawing airplane diagrams. A problem with one leg prevented him from being aircrew. In late 1943, following recommendations from artists William Dargie and Harold Herbert, he was commissioned as an official war artist attached to the army, and given the rank of lieutenant.{{cite web|url=http://www.artsplanner.com/events/index.php?com=detail&eID=201886&lID=244 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404181414/http://www.artsplanner.com/events/index.php?com=detail&eID=201886&lID=244 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2016-04-04 |title=Alan Moore: the compassionate observer |publisher=ArtsPlanner.com |access-date=2016-03-25 }}
Moore's first deployment as an artist was with the RAAF in Papua New Guinea in early 1944. His earlier watercolour paintings, made in Milne Bay and Goodenough Island, were destroyed by wet weather and humidity; he subsequently changed to working with oils, which were more suitable for the tropical environment.{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OpC9q5lL4Q|title=Second World War Official War Alan Moore visits the Australian War Memorial|publisher=Australian War Memorial|date=2014-03-19|access-date=2015-09-27}}
During his time in Papua New Guinea he flew in several bombing raids to make sketches from the air.{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38549436|title=Putting the R.A.A.F. on canvas|newspaper=Western Mail|location=Perth, Western Australia|date=1944-05-25|page=7|access-date=2015-09-27}}{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63151504|title=R.A.A.F Beauforts make their biggest daylight strike|newspaper=Townsville Daily Bulletin|location=Queensland|date=1944-01-28|page=1|access-date=2015-09-27}}
Towards the end of World War II, he recorded war scenes from Papua New Guinea, the Middle East, Italy, England and Germany.{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-25/australian-world-war-ii-artist-revisits-holocaust-works/5283666|title=World War II artist Alan Moore makes pilgrimage to Australian War Memorial to view Holocaust works|author=Siobhan Heanue|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|date=2014-02-26|access-date=2015-09-27}}
In 1945 Moore accompanied the British 11th Armoured Division when they liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany. He spent three days sketching and painting the state of the camp, its prisoners and their captors, including Fritz Klein. It was suggested by one soldier that nobody would believe the portrayals, prompting Moore to also photograph the scenes as proof.{{cite web|url=http://www.afr.com/lifestyle/arts-and-entertainment/art/the-lifelong-friendship-of-a-wwii-artist-and-the-girl-he-met-in-belsen-20150407-1mfv2z|title=The lifelong friendship of a WWII artist and the girl he met in Belsen|date=2015-04-11|author=Scott Bevan|publisher=Fairfax Media Publications|work=The Australian Financial Review Magazine|access-date=2015-09-27}}
File:Alan Moore making a drawing of former German SS concentration camp guards.jpg
=After the war=
After the war Moore spent some years in Europe. He eventually returned to Melbourne, where he taught painting at Swinburne Technical College from {{circa|1963}}. Moore also painted images from his Belsen sketches and photographs. They were exhibited commercially, but failed to sell. The Australian War Memorial initially rejected the material because it did not depict Australian soldiers; however it accepted them in 1969 when they were donated by Moore.{{cite news|url=http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/war-artists-powerful-images-of-holocaust-at-war-memorial-20130315-2g6ck.html|title=War artist's powerful images of Holocaust at War Memorial|publisher=The Canberra Times|author=David Ellery|date=2013-03-16|access-date=2015-09-27}} In 2013{{ndash}}14 the Belsen images formed the basis of a year-long exhibition at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, which Moore himself visited at the invitation of the Memorial.
The War Memorial also commissioned Moore to paint several large portraits, including of Generals Douglas MacArthur and Arthur Samuel Allen.{{cite web|url=https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/ART27780/|title=Generals MacArthur and Allen at Owers' Corner|publisher=Australian War Memorial|access-date=2015-09-27}} {{As of|2015}} the War Memorial holds more than 200 of his works.
Later life
Moore continued to paint at his studio in Avoca until he was 95, stopped by arthritis and failing vision. At about the same time he moved into a nursing home in Avoca.
He died on 24 September 2015, survived by his third wife, Alison.{{cite web|url=http://tributes.theage.com.au/obituaries/theage-au/obituary.aspx?n=alan-moore&pid=175928389|title=Alan MOORE|publisher=Fairfax Media|work=The Age|date=2015-09-26|access-date=2015-09-27}}
References
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Category:20th-century Australian painters
Category:20th-century Australian male artists
Category:Australian men centenarians
Category:Australian war artists
Category:Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II
Category:Australian male painters
Category:Royal Australian Air Force officers