George Butler
Irpin Bridge
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Victoria and Albert Museum
London, United Kingdom
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum's own collection data
About the work
George Butler is a war and current affairs artist. This illustration is one of several in the collection in which he has documented the Ukraine war, partly funded by the Pulitzer Centre for Crisis Reporting.
Butler’s past work has included the G20 riots, soldiers in Afghanistan and war damage in Azaz and Taftanaz, both in Syria. He published a book in 2021 Drawn Across Borders: True Stories of Migration, an artist’s sketchbook of 10 years drawing in refugee camps in 12 countries. His work is featured in newspapers and magazines.
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Butler’s work focuses on the human angle of war - as he describes it: ‘I draw what happens on the fringes of atrocity’. His work is drawn in situ and later finished in watercolours. Butler provides context for all of his war drawings, which bring the human experience into these dehumanising situations, and documents the disruption to everyday lives. Using drawings allows the artist to make an emotional connection with the subjects, but maintain a graphic distance from the more brutal aspects of the record. Some of the people he sketched would not allow photographers to take images of them. His quick ‘unfinished’ graphic style gives the imagery an immediacy appropriate to the situation.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- E.950-2023
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum: the museum's own open data · fetched 12 days ago
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
