Scium Basci Tesfalidet Ghidai: Polizia Africana Italiana, Asmara. A sergeant in the Police Force formed by the Italians

Edward Bawden was an official war artist throughout the war and travelled widely in the Middle East and East Africa. A well-known designer and illustrator before the war, he worked in watercolour to chronicle his journeys with the British forces. Bawden painted a range of portraits recording the diversity of people he encountered. He painted this portrait in Asmara which he visited on his travels around Eritrea in the wake of the British offensive into Ethiopia. Bawden captures the vivacity of the sitter’s decorative uniform against a pale background, breaking out of his usually subdued colour pallet.