In The Shelter, 1940 (watercolour, paper, board)

Creator: Ardizzone, Edward Jeffrey Irving (1900-79) A mother nurses a baby while an elderly couple and others sleep on their feet, leaning against the walls of an air raid shelter, London, 1940. Edward Ardizzone was a British painter, writer, print-maker, acclaimed illustrator of children's books, and a regular cartoonist for Punch magazine. In 1940 Ardizzone began working full-time for the War Office as an official war artist, documenting his experiences in the Second World War through drawings and diaries, now held by Imperial War Museums. His work from this period covers locations as diverse as the UK, Northern Europe, Sicily and North Africa. The House of Illustration held a major retrospective of Ardizzone's work in 2016. Awarded a CBE in 1971, the artist’s work is also held in many major collections including the British Museum and Tate Britain.