Robert Gibbings, 1st Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers, 1889-1958
After the war, Gibbings’ career began to take off and for a time he became a pioneering publisher as well as an artist. His woodcuts were hugely popular and he extended his skills to underwater sketching of marine life. By the end of the 1930s he was combining superb illustrations with writing that evoked travels down his favourite rivers. Sweet Thames, Run Softly, published in 1940, became a best seller: it exactly caught the spirit of affection for England that sustained people in wartime.
His final ‘career’ came as an early natural history presenter on radio and television, where he is said to have greatly influenced the young David Attenborough.
"[His style] came from the spirit, a mixture of poetic evocation, intense observation, factual detail and, above all, a sense of enjoyment and love of life."
Martin J.Andrews
Gallipoli: Sunset over Lemnos, HMS 'Triumph' and HMS 'Swiftsure'
by Robert Gibbings
© Imperial War Museums (ART 2822)
