Marching Down to the Station

Alan Sorrell 1904 - 1974

Summary

Moonlit landscape scene showing rows of identical figures marching, three-abreast, downhill into the distance; the procession moves along a road on a steep gradient, which is flanked by high, wooded banks and has a line of telegraph poles alongside the figures. At the base of the hill is a valley shrouded in mist; on the horizon is a low hill with the forms of buildings, including a square church-tower, silhouetted against the light of the moon, which is seen through the branches of foreground trees. Alan Sorrell was a student at the Royal College of Art during the mid-1920s. He later taught there from 1931 to 1948. He served as an airman in the Royal Air Force during World War II. This direct experience resulted in his post-war drawings of life in wartime Britain. He was not an Official War Artist (his application was turned down) so he was able to choose the subject of his work.