Views of Gallipoli - Turk Entrenched Positions

Horace Moore-Jones ( 1868 – 1922)

Born in Malvern Wells, Worcestershire, England, Moore-Jones and his family emigrated to New Zealand when he was about 17 years old. He soon became a professional artist and worked in both New Zealand and Australia.

At the outbreak of war in 1914, Horace Moore-Jones was living in Britain. He was 42 years old, but gave his age as 32 so he could enlist with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF).

Moore-Jones was sent to Gallipoli with the Engineers, but was soon deployed to draw topographical maps of the area for military purposes. During his war service and for a time afterwards following his discharge from the NZEF in 1916 he produced nearly 80 watercolours of Gallipoli. These watercolours were first exhibited at New Zealand House, London, in April 1916.

Moore-Jones on his experience, saying that Gallipoli was like eight months of hell:

You can imagine what it must be like to live, day after day, facing plateaus that are covered with one’s dead comrades, whose faces had grown black by the time we could reach them, and the over-powering sickening stench. And what it meant to sit, eating one’s bread and jam surrounded by millions of flies who had been bred on dead bodies.

Remarks: Label on back - Turk entrenched positions. Sketch looking North-East, descriptive of the country immediately in front of our Firing Lines

Image Dimensions: 530mm W x 130mm H

Framing: Unframed, mounted on card

Mount dimensions: 665 mm W x 265mm H