Fortunino Matania

Artist: Fortunino Matania
Medium: Numbered Limited edition Lithograph print
Size: 15" x 10" (381mm x 254mm)
Date: 1916
Signature: Signed by Artist

This is a Signed Limited edition print.

One of a series of 12 artist proof signed prints produced for the Sphere & Tatler in 1916, 'With the British Army on the Western Front'.

(The communication trench is the place which affords the opportunity for the display of all the sporting qualities of the British soldier. Much has already been written about these trenches and the various ways they are constructed. A guide is always required by a stranger entering these mazes.

Unpleasant surprises crop up at many points. The sniper is a constant danger, and cover from the enemy's bullets scanty. In the drawing I show one of these trenches through which I myself passed. It is a long double wall of sand-bags from 3 feet to 4 feet high. The height of the sand-bags renders it advisable to proceed in a stooping fashion, bent almost double. Many of these trenches cannot be used during the day; in others you may even lead a pony through without undue danger. Outside in all directions there is the horror of war in full display.

I saw the body of a horse which was slowly decomposing and sinking into the earth, yet it could not be removed, because it was certain death for anyone to attempt to remove it. An officer said to me, "If you are tired of life, try to reach it," and yet the body was only a few yards away. Soldiers are passing and repassing, perspiring, laughing, joking and teasing one another, whilst every now and then the noise is drowned by a voice, "Keep your head down, you d-----d fool" - F. Matania.)