Curiosity—Stories of those who report during wartime

In the Hall of Memory at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra there are 15 stained-glass windows. Each shows a figure dressed in military uniform, and under each figure is a word which describes a quality displayed by Australians during wartime. One window features an infantryman wearing a trench mortar uniform. He represents all service men and women who have gained knowledge from enquiry, symbolised by an eye in the Egyptian style from which stream rays of light.

This window bears the word Curiosity.

Note to reader: These stories relate to war and conflict. You may feel sad after reading some of them. Teachers may wish to be sensitive to students who have family members serving overseas in war zones.

  • Curiosity—Stories of those who report during wartime
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A personal response: Hilda Rix Nicholas

A drawing depicting the side view a man in uniform seated on a chair. His arms appear to be resting on a table in front of him.

Hilda Rix Nicholas, Major George Matson Nicholas [1916, charcoal and pastel over pencil on paper, 56 x 38 cm, AWM ART96807]

Rix Nicholas drew this portrait of her new husband on 9 October 1916, two days after their wedding. The couple met when Major Nicholas tracked her down in London to give her some paintings he found in her abandoned studio in France.

How does this portrait differ from ones she painted later?

Artist Hilda Rix Nicholas explored her personal experiences of the First World War in her artworks – from her grief as a widow to her national pride. In doing so, she also challenged existing ideas about women and art.

Hilda Rix had travelled from Australia to France in 1909 to work as an artist, but she moved to the relative safety of London after the outbreak of war in 1914. In October 1916, she married Major ‘Matson’ Nicholas, whom she had met the previous month while he was on leave from the Western Front. Her joy in finding love is seen in a letter she wrote to him just weeks later:

Dear, I love you so … You are in danger and I am far away. Oh this ghastly war. Dear husband be brave and splendid and always your best, but don’t be reckless. I need you and love you utterly.1

A painting depicting an old woman wearing a long black dress and a white bonnet. She is seated in a kitchen with her hands folded in her lap, and there is a row of blue plates on a whitewashed shelf in the background.

Hilda Rix Nicholas, A mother of France [1914, oil on canvas, 72.6 x 60.2 cm, AWM ART03281]

This is a portrait of Rix Nicholas’s neighbour from France, whose son had been killed in one of the first battles of the First World War. In portraying the woman’s grief, Rix Nicholas presents her as a symbol of the suffering of all mothers who had lost their sons at war.

How has the artist captured the woman’s grief in this painting?

Tragically, Major Nicholas was killed before the letter could be delivered to him.

The experience of loss shaped Rix Nicholas’s art, and the paintings she created in 1917 expressed the depths of her despair. While driven by her personal experience, these paintings represented the suffering of all war widows. At the time, much art focused on war heroes and sacrifice and it was unusual to find strong statements about the impact of death.

From late 1917, Rix Nicholas began a series of portraits that celebrated the qualities and commitment of the Anzacs. She began by portraying her late husband and his brothers, but the series grew into a large project once she returned to Australia. She received a very positive response to these works, particularly from returned soldiers who appreciated her recognition of their service and sacrifice.

Did you know?

When the artworks of Hilda Rix Nicholas were first offered to the Australian War Memorial in the 1920s, the Director rejected most of her paintings and drawings on the basis that they were too personal.

A drawing depicting a man in military uniform from behind. He is standing with outstretched arms and is leaning back and looking up to the sky.

Hilda Rix Nicholas, not titled [Study for Pro Humanitate], [c. 1917, black charcoal on paper, 55.8 x 38.2 cm, AWM ART96815]

This is a study for one of three major oil paintings Rix Nicholas completed following the death of her husband. A fire at her rural property in 1930 destroyed the painting.

Why do you think Rix Nicholas chose this pose for her subject? What does it convey?

While many appreciated her art, which was exhibited in Sydney and Melbourne, Rix Nicholas also attracted criticism. In the post-war years she began painting landscapes, a subject that had been mainly painted by men. Some felt her work was too ‘masculine’ and others claimed that the ten years she spent overseas meant she could not paint realistic Australian landscapes. Rix Nicholas responded to this criticism in a lecture she gave in 1922:

Why, one might as well say that the Australian men who went abroad to fight and who made the glory of Australia recognised in other lands and our fame ring over the world, are less Australian than if they had remained, with bayonets pointed, on a little bit of Australian soil.2

This drawing depicts two men in uniform on a battlefield. One man is seated, and he looks to the front while supporting another man with a bandage around his head.

Hilda Rix Nicholas, In France [c. 1920, charcoal and pastel on paper, 76.8 x 58.5 cm, AWM ART90243]

Rix Nicholas made many drawings of soldiers who had returned from the war. This project became a memorial to their service.

What characteristics of Australian soldiers are portrayed in this drawing?

Despite her critics, Rix Nicholas achieved her ambition of taking Australian artworks to Europe. In 1925, she became the first Australian female artist to have a solo exhibition in Paris. After she returned to Australia she remarried and painted from a studio on her rural property in southern New South Wales. Rix Nicholas continued to paint and exhibit until the 1950s, when her eyesight declined. She died at the age of 77, in 1961.

In 2015, the Australian War Memorial added to its collection by purchasing nine portraits by Rix Nicholas. This was in recognition of their national significance in conveying the personal experiences of Australians in the First World War.

Fast facts: War memorials

Before the end of the First World War, communities across Australia began to create memorials in recognition of those who had served. The memorials took many forms, including artworks, flagpoles, parks, buildings and honour boards. Many of the war memorials included the names of local men who had enlisted during the war. The names of those who died were often marked with a cross.

A black and white image of a young woman dressed in a long white dress with frills and a white hat. Both the hat and the dress are decorated with artificial flowers, and she has a patterned sash around her waist.
A rectangular wooden box covered in green paper and lined with red material. Inside this box are eleven pencils, an eraser, a brush, and a cardboard disk with the word ‘Vasco’ written on it.
This is a charcoal and coloured pastel three quarter length portrait of a First World War soldier in uniform. It depicts him from the side and he is holding an upright rifle in front of him.
This painting in oils depicts a soldier in battle uniform from the front, but he is looking to one side. The background that frames the man is a very turbulent sky.
A rectangular rusted steel paint box holding a palette of twelve small paint containers. There is a tube of paint at each end of the box, and four paint brushes are stored down one side.
A black and white image of the interior of a large room with more than twenty men in uniform sitting in cane armchairs, three men dressed in suits, and a woman in a dark dress. In the foreground is a table on which are magazines and a record player with a
  • 1. John Pigot, Hilda Rix Nicholas: her life and art, Melbourne University Press, 2000, p. 29
  • 2. Art in Australia: a quarterly magazine, Sydney, 1 Sept 1922, p. 69