Section
1: Defining Documentary
This is one of Moore's well known series of drawings of Londoners sheltering in underground stations. In September 1940, shortly before the bombing forced him out of London, Moore took cover from an air raid in Belsize Park underground station. Looking around at the people sheltering there, he became 'fascinated by the sight of people camping out deep under ground'. These drawings led to Moore being appointed an Official War Artist. The 1943 documentary film Out of Chaos by Lee Miller featured Moore sketching in the underground.
Several of Moore's shelter drawings were exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in the summer of 1941, as part of an exhibition called Britain at War. At the time, popular opinion in the United States was still largely against military involvement in the war. The exhibition's narrative of a fellow nation under threat complemented a wider propaganda campaign to encourage popular support for American intervention.
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work in the Tate Collection