Milking Practice with Artificial Udders

Dunbar’s paintings are deceptively simple and straightforward, and yet the artist pays extraordinary attention to composition and paint thickness, patterns, light and texture. Dunbar’s Land Army paintings show the challenges recruits encountered as they learnt new skills and adapted to a new environment. In Milking Practice with Artificial Udders the concentration and patience of the women at their task contrasts with its slight absurdity. At the outbreak of the Second World War Dunbar contacted the War Artists Advisory Committee (WAAC) explaining her interest in women’s work on the land. In 1940 she was given a series of commissions relating to the Women’s Voluntary Service and especially the Women’s Land Army. Throughout the war Dunbar continued to work on agricultural subjects, while also looking at nursing and the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS).