Occasional Paper 172: Dennis Adams, War Artist (1914 – 2001)

By Lorraine Fildes

Dennis Adams was born in Sydney however when his father, a marine engineer, retired from the sea the family moved to a sheep property in Queensland. Stories of adventures at sea gave the young boy a desire to experience life on the big, oceangoing sailing vessels. When the family visited Sydney, Dennis was taken to see magnificent windjammers entering the Heads – linking Australia with ‘the rest of the world’.

Adams demonstrated that he was a gifted draftsman and when he finished school was accepted as a student at the Julian Ashton School of Art in Sydney. After completing his Art studies, the 20-year-old Adams lived in Sydney and worked as a commercial artist with artists such as William Dobell and Lloyd Rees.

Adams had two desires. One was to continue his art studies at the Royal Academy of Art in London – the other was to sail on one of the windjammers that he had seen entering Sydney Harbour when he was a lad.

By the 1930s many of the windjammers coming to Australia visited South Australian ports to load grain for Europe. So, in 1935 Adams moved to South Australia and signed on as an ‘able-bodied passenger’ on the Herzogin Cecilie.

Herzogin Cecilie was a German-built four-mast barque (windjammer), named after German Crown Princess Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Herzogin being German for Duchess). Herzogin Cecilie was one of the fastest windjammers ever built. At the outbreak of World War I, she was interned by Chile, returning to Germany in 1920, only to be given to France as reparation, and subsequently sold to Gustaf Erikson of Finland.

Adams, joined the port watch and lived and worked in the fo’c’sle. He made a pictorial record of life on a windjammer. His quick oil sketches chronicled the crew as they set or reduced sail as well as completing important maintenance tasks on board.

Adams arrived in Falmouth in 1935 with his oil sketches on sail canvas and headed for London to enrol at the Royal Academy of Arts. He spent several years studying art at the Royal Arts School, with its emphasis on life drawing and figurative work. However, war clouds were looming in Europe and in 1939 Adams returned to Australia on Erikson’s Lawhill. As he did on Herzogin Cecilie, he made many quick oil sketches of the crew at work on the ship.

On his return to Australia Adams enlisted as a solider in the 18th Battalion and was later seconded to the Department of Home Security for camouflage work. In 1942 he was appointed an official war artist to represent the activities of the Australian and US Navies and the merchant marine in the South Pacific. He was made Captain in the Military History Section AIF in 1943. He served in New Guinea, Middle East, Italy, Egypt, UK, France, Belgium, Newfoundland, Canada, the Bahamas, USA, and Japan.

This painting of HMAS Perth is noteworthy in that the artist originally depicted the near identical HMAS Sydney, which sank in November 1941. With the sinking of HMAS Perth in March 1942, Dennis Adams over painted the picture for reproduction in the first RAN service annual, ‘HMAS’, published later that same year.

After WWII Adams established a career as an artist specialising mainly in maritime and war art. Adams also taught art at the East Sydney Technical College. He also completed numerous public works of sculptural art, many in bronze. These works include:

1. ‘Ship bearing red ten’, 1967, a quiet intense red cedar work based on an officer at watch
2. ‘The Survivors’ 1968-73, a bronze and concrete memorial to merchant seamen
3. The Royal Australian Regiment Memorial, 1976 in Sydney.
4. The Second World War Servicewomen’s Memorial 1990
5. Ship bearing red ten, 1967, intense red cedar work based on an officer at watch

2. The Survivors 1968-73, a bronze and concrete memorial to merchant seamen

3. The Royal Australian Regiment Memorial, 1976 in Sydney

4. The Second World War Servicewomen’s Memorial 1990

Adams was a founding member of the Australian Society of Marine Artists. The first meeting of which took place on 6 June 1996 during which it was agreed to establish the Society with Dennis Adams appointed as the first President. Today the Society with around 100 members, plays a significant role in promoting Australian Maritime Art with exhibitions held throughout Australia.

In 1989, Dennis Adams was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in recognition of his exceptional achievements in the field of art.

References:

Dennis Adams | People | The Collection | Australian National Maritime Museum (sea.museum)

Life as an artist on the windjammers in the 1930s | Works | Dennis Adams | People | The Collection | Australian National Maritime Museum (sea.museum)

Dennis Adams – Australian National Maritime Museum (sea.museum)

History – Australian Society of Marine Artists (marineartistsaustralia.com.au)

Dennis Adams – Shoalhaven Regional Gallery

Second World War Servicewomen Memorial | City Art Sydney

Royal Australian Regiment Memorial | City Art Sydney

Advanced Search | Australian War Memorial (awm.gov.au)