Thomas Hennell was a British artist and writer who specialised in illustrations and essays on the subject of the British countryside.
16 Facts About Thomas Hennell
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Thomas Hennell was an official war artist during the Second World War and was killed while serving in Indonesia in November 1945.
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Thomas Hennell attended primary school in Broadstairs and then secondary school at Bradfield College, Berkshire before studying art at Regent Street Polytechnic.
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Whilst at college Thomas Hennell had begun travelling around the British countryside to work on essays and illustrations of rural landscapes.
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Thomas Hennell worked closely with H J Massingham, illustrating books by him and others.
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Edward Bawden, a fellow artist, encouraged Thomas Hennell to write The Witnesses, an account of his mental illness.
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At the outbreak of war in 1939 Thomas Hennell wrote to the War Artists' Advisory Committee, WAAC, offering his services as an artist.
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Thomas Hennell worked for the Pilgrim Trust in 1940, and the Ministry of Information in 1941, producing watercolours of rural crafts and agriculture in Kent, Dorset, Berkshire and Worcestershire.
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In 1943 Thomas Hennell was named as a full-time salaried war artist and sent to replace Eric Ravilious in Iceland.
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Thomas Hennell painted in Iceland throughout the second half of 1943 before going to the northeast of England in January 1944 to paint maritime topics.
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In May 1944 Thomas Hennell went to Portsmouth to record the preparations for D-Day, which he took part in.
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Thomas Hennell returned to England for surgery before starting an assignment with the Air Ministry in the Far East.
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Thomas Hennell arrived in Burma in June 1945 and was based with an RAF unit near Rangoon as the Japanese retreated.
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Thomas Hennell completed a painting of an Allied victory parade in the city featuring Lord Mountbatten and painted Indian units building an airstrip in the jungle.
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From Rangoon, Thomas Hennell travelled by train to Calcutta, then sailed to Colombo.
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Thomas Hennell was a member of The Royal Watercolour Society and exhibited in the New English Art Club.