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[Bizu]

Here is a good friend and artist named Roen who will demonstrate how simple it is for YOU to do it.

Didn't know you were a friend of Antonis.
Tell him I really admire his work

[purgatorio]

MALTA
Leslie Cole
Malta: A Few People Sleep Out among the Debris, 1943


Art.IWM ART LD 3550

Night scene showing civilians sleeping among the ruins of their houses.


"It was on the night of June 10th ...

   ... that Italy declared war as from midnight. It was only at six o’clock that very evening that His Excellency had made a short broadcast which was not more ominous than expected. I recall that one of his points was that people should not withdraw their money from the Government Savings Bank.

   On Tuesday June 11th, we woke at 06.45 to the scream of the air raid siren. It is not a scream really, but quite a melodious pair of notes - a major third, I think. But, since it rises from a low note to a high one, and then warbles up and down continuously in a chromatic scale, it give the impression of a shriek. Probably this is emphasised psychologically, by the fact that its warbling note means danger. Indeed when with its steady note it announces “Raiders passed” it has quite a pleasant sound.

   On the first morning of the local war, the siren practically synchronised with a furious outburst of anti-aircraft fire all around us. We hurried into dressing gowns, and ran to the Crypt collecting the two frightened maids as we went. The fire was severe; windows and doors rattling, and the crump of bombs falling. There are three A.A. guns 600 yards away, clearly visible from our drawing-room windows, and indeed guns on all sides of us at about the same distance. I do not know how long the action lasted - perhaps 15 minutes. Ten planes, we were told, in two formations. We had 8 raids during that day, by far the worst being the last, when firing went on for about 30 minutes at about 7.30 p.m. It was a terrifying experience. I could hear bombs dropping. The sound is quite different from gunfire. It is a thick sound, and the word “crump” just describes it.

   Next day we found that a bomb had missed St. John’s Co-Cathedral by 20 feet, but fortunately did not explode. Since then we have had raids practically every day. The total to date is 53 in 22 days, and perhaps 5 days on which we have been exempt. In the first eight days we had 37 civilians killed and 112 wounded, as well as a few soldiers casualties."

From diary written by Reverend Reginald M. Nicholls, Chancellor of St.Paul’s Anglican Cathedral, Valletta between 10th June 1940 - 1st April 1942.


During World War II, Malta played an important role owing to its proximity to Axis shipping lanes. The bravery of the Maltese people during the second Siege of Malta moved King George VI to award the George Cross to Malta on a collective basis on 15 April 1942 "to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history". Some historians argue that the award caused Britain to incur disproportionate losses in defending Malta, as British credibility would have suffered if Malta surrendered, as Singapore had. A replica of the George Cross now appears in the upper hoist corner of the Flag of Malta. Malta achieved its independence on 21 September 1964 after intense negotiations with the United Kingdom.

The opening of a new front in North Africa in mid-1940 increased Malta's already considerable value. British air and sea forces based on the island could attack Axis ships transporting vital supplies and reinforcements from Europe. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, in command of Axis forces in North Africa, recognised its importance quickly. In May 1941, he warned that "Without Malta the Axis will end by losing control of North Africa".

The Axis resolved to bomb or starve Malta into submission, by attacking its ports, towns, cities and Allied shipping supplying the island. Malta was one of the most intensively bombed areas during the war. The Luftwaffe and the Regia Aeronautica flew a total of 3,000 bombing raids over a period of two years in an effort to destroy RAF defences and the ports. Success would have made possible a combined German—Italian amphibious landing supported by German airborne forces. It was never carried out. In the event, Allied convoys were able to supply and reinforce Malta, while the RAF defended its airspace, though at great cost in material and lives.



A heavily bomb-damaged street in Valletta, Malta. This street is Kingsway, the principle street in Valletta. Service personnel and civilians are present clearing up the debris, 1 May 1942.
IWM (A 8701)



A view of Kingsway from the Post Reale, Valletta, showing the bomb damage incurred. On the right the ruins of the Opera House can be seen, April 1942.
IWM (GM 604)

from Wikipedia.

[SAS~Gerax]

Frans Masereel (1889 – 1972):

Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frans_Masereel
Home: http://www.frans-masereel.de/14862_Works.html
see especially his "danse macabre"..
http://www.frans-masereel.de/15646_Danse_macabre.html

4 works:

[SAS~Gerax]

OT, but worth having a look:

Albin Egger-Lienz (1868-1926, Tyrol, Austria)
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albin_Egger-Lienz

"dedicated to the Nameless" 

[purgatorio]

Rowland Hilder
Grand Harbour, Malta under air attack, 1942


Catalogue ref: INF 3/1265

An image illustrating Grand Harbour, Malta under air attack, for the series War in Pictures. As can be seen, Grand Harbour was the most heavily bombed location in Malta during the Second World War, (Malta being the most bombed country anywhere in the world per square mile) with most of its buildings reduced to rubble. In this image, a solitary figure looks on with binoculars at the dogfight going on in the sky whilst smoke billows from the harbour.

British-controlled Malta was protected by a limited military force, and was bombarded by Axis forces for two years, because of its strategically vital location in the heart of the Mediterranean. Whoever controlled Malta, would almost certainly control the Mediterranean and the outcome of the war in Southern Europe. Operation Pedestal, the most famous of a number of attempts to relieve British-controlled Malta took place in August 1942.

[purgatorio]

Dennis Barnham
Pilot, 601 Squadron RAF (Malta), obtained 5,5 victories, 1920–1981


Battle over Malta: Spitfire Attacking JU 88s but in a Dog-Fight with ME 109s, 1942


Oil on canvas, 101.9 x 76.2 cm, IWM (Imperial War Museums)


Self-portrait, 1942




ww2today.com: Spitfire versus Me 109s over Malta, 21st April 1942


Denis Barnham had arrived on Malta after flying off the USS Wasp” on the 20th April. With regular air attacks on the island it was not long before he was in action, scrambled to deal with the latest wave of bombers to appear. As usual they were heavily outnumbered:

    "We are climbing higher into a rusty purple void: in all this haze I can’t see the island or the sea, only the two Spitfires ahead of me and the glaring Cyclopian eye of the sun staring down at us. Fifteen thousand feet, still in haze – Gracie turning left. I follow in a long stern chase as we dive back in the direction we’ve come from. I stare through the windscreen at Gracie’s tiny Spitire closely followed by the C.O.’s, both turning slightly right in the distance. In front of the two retreating planes a faint brown trace of the island with bursting anti-aircraft shells is looming towards us. Gracie steepens his dive, continues turning. We are plunging vertically but I can see no enemy planes.

    There they are – Ju 88s, top plan view, five, seven, ten, twenty, thirty. No time to count. Still more appear, all sweeping closer. All sizes, extending in depth downwards like fishes in a tank; some very close, some far away below. Take one near the bottom. My Spitfire shudders as I fire two bursts of cannon into a cluster of bombers that get in the way. May have hit one. Can’t stop to look. My target is wheeling nicely into position.

    Ahhhhh! A huge part of a Ju 88, nose and engines, flashes out from under my left wing: must have been right on top of him! Gone now. Easing gently out of my dive, watching my graceful target flying backwards towards me, larger and larger in my gun-sight. Quick search in all directions: lots of 88s but no enemy fighters. Target’s wings overlapping my windscreen – I fire. A flash and a burst of smoke from his port engine.

    He rears up in front of me, steep turning left. Dash the man! Deflection inside his turn. Can only just do it. Fire again. He’s swerving to the right. Try for his starboard engine. Fire again and again.

    Black smoke puffs on my left wing; balls of orange fire flashing past my cockpit, crackling in my ears. I plunge left, looking back over my left shoulder, for who the hell’s hitting me? Nothing there – just an 88 hanging behind my tail. Can’t be him. Swerve back again. My own 88 has drawn away a bit; a pretty thing splaying two plumes of smoke that widen as they sweep back towards me, very pale machine and very close to the water. I wonder if it’s going to crash.

    109s! Two, head-on views, diving from my left, blinking with light. Curling blue tracers strand about me as I turn towards them. A third – got my sight on him for an instant before he went under my nose. Still turning hard left. My helmet’s too big for me. Turn pressure pulls it over my eyes. Can’t see. Stupid. Push it up and straighten out: that’s better.

    Two more 109s, from the right this time. Turn in towards them. Curl down on the last one. Can’t turn sharply enough. Damn the helmet! Another 109 below me. Drop on to his tail. I’ll get him all right. A gigantic shape, all rivets and oil streaks, the underside of a Messerschmitt, blots out the sky! Gone. But I’m still on a 109?s tail, it’s right there in front of me, pointing very slightly downwards. My aircraft shudders and shudders and shudders and shudders as I pour bullets and shells into it. It bursts with black smoke and topples over sideways."

Shortly afterwards Denis Barnham’s plane was hit and he prepared to bail out, only changing his mind at the last minute. He just managed to crash land his plane and avoid serious injury. He had survived his first 24 hours on Malta.



Ground crew refuel a Supermarine Spitfire Mark VC of No. 601 Squadron RAF, using four-gallon petrol tins, in a sandbagged revettment at Luqa, Malta,
while two armourers service the Spitfire's cannon. In the cockpit, conferring with other squadron personnel, is Flight Lieutenant Dennis Barnham.[/size]

ww2today.comMalta Spitfire Pilot: Ten Weeks of Terror April-June 1942 by Denis Barnham

[SAS~Gerax]

yes, I've always wondered why Nazis identified with his art 

they misused his art and so they did with other artists too.
They were opportunists. And this special way he painted the rural population
was exactly the way they wanted to have the image of this people:
chunky, lusty, and most of all: earthy.
Hope I translated the correct words. 

[purgatorio]

Leslie Cole
WAAC war artist, 1910 – 1976

Malta: The Harbour Barrage from the Upper Barracca, 1943


Art.IWM ART LD 3550

A view from the Upper Barracca over the Grand Harbour of Valletta under aerial bombardment at night. There are piles of rubble in the immediate foreground and a British Anti-Aircraft gun fires skywards from a gun emplacement in the centre of the composition. This emplacement and the smoke-filled Grand Harbour are visible through a large gap in the damaged wall of archways of the Upper Barracca. The night sky is illuminated by the moon, star shells, artillery and anti-aircraft fire.


St Lucius Street, Valletta: Moonlight alert. Maltese people running for shelter, 1943


Art.IWM ART LD 3509

Four civilians run for shelter across a rubble-strewn, bomb-damaged street. In the distance searchlights cross the night sky.


A Malta Dockyard: The underground church with Rear-Admiral Kenneth Mackenzie, Mrs Mackenzie, two children and sailors, 1943


Art.IWM ART LD 3243

A view of the church from the back. The room has a low, curved ceiling partially covered with corrugated iron and rough walls. There is an altar at the front. The vicar stands in front of the alter next to the organist. The congregation sits on benches with their backs to the viewer and is made up of a family at the front and uniformed sailors behind.


Malta: No Time to Lose - Soldier Dockers unloading a Convoy during a Raid, 1943


Art.IWM ART LD 3257

A daylight scene of frantic dockside activity. Helmeted dockworkers on the left take hold of a swinging load of white sacks being unloaded from the side of a merchant ship in the background. Several sacks are strewn around their feet. On the right another soldier hauls on a rope, guiding a loading net full of boxes down towards a second team of dockers. In the centre stands a figure, stripped to the waist, issuing orders. Puffs of smoke from anti-aircraft fire can be seen in the sky, upper left.

Malta’s position mid-Mediterranean between North Africa and Italy made it vulnerable to attack. British efforts to re- supply Malta were at particular risk: during Operation Pedestal, a convoy bound for Malta from Gibraltar in August 1942, half the merchantmen were sunk by enemy attack. In 1943, when Leslie Cole visited Malta, the devastated island was still subject to air-raids and alerts as the Allied invasion of Sicily and the Italian mainland got underway. Some of Cole’s drawings in Malta show people sheltering from attack in underground shelters and running for cover. This painting of dock-workers has an urgency often found in his work, but the image has an almost theatrical air, with the central figure orchestrating the scene as if conducting a symphony. In this case the danger of the scene is subordinate to its mesmerising pattern, punctuated by the strange helmet-carapaces.


Leslie Cole

Cole had been a highly productive war artist in the Second World War, having assiduously courted the War Artists Advisory Committee (WAAC), chaired by Sir Kenneth Clark, for opportunities to work as an official war artists. His commitment to this project eventually resulted in a series of commissions in Malta, France (working alongside the Royal Marine Commandos), Greece, Germany, Burma, Malaya, Singapore and elsewhere. Particularly powerful were his visual portrayals of Belsen concentration camp that included harrowing views of prisoners of war, the death pits and the women’s compound and of Japanese prisoner of war camps in Singapore, where he portrayed the conditions of women and children.

Cole had trained at Swindon Art School and the Royal College of Art, London, where his studies included mural painting, lithography and fabric printing. [...] Following the outbreak of war he joined the RAF but was discharged on grounds of ill health. In his efforts to gain the attention of the WAAC he undertook trips on a Hull trawler involved in minesweeping and coastal defence duties and a destroyer guarding a convoy to Gibraltar. Early WAAC commissions were juggled with leave of absence from Hull College of Arts & Crafts. However, continued employment at the latter compromised Cole’s opportunities for War Artists’ commissions, resulting in the tendering of his resignation in 1944. In this period he held an honorary commission as a captain with the Royal Marines and was a salaried war artist.


Self portrait, 1958

from University of Brighton Faculty of Arts: Leslie Cole, 1910-1976


more from Leslie Cole...

[purgatorio]

Leslie Cole
Malta: Fighters take off from Luca's bombed runway, 1943


Art.IWM ART LD 3554

A row of Spitfires line the edge of the bombed runway, as two planes take off through large clouds of smoke and flames.

[purgatorio]

Operation PEDESTAL, August1942

John Hamilton
Survivors. HMS Ledbury rescued 44 men from the merchantman SS Waimarama, Pedestal convoy 1942, 1972


IWM ART LD 7435
A reconstruction of a scene during Operation Pedestal in the Mediterranean near Malta. The Royal Navy vessel HMS Ledbury, shown from the stern end, takes on board survivors of a sunken merchant ship, parts of which are engulfed in flame and smoke.


Operation Pedestal - Saving Malta
Text from BBC News

For two years, the Italian forces bombarded Malta, protected by a limited military force. Convoys of supplies were picked off one by one as they approached. One of the worst single losses came on 13 November 1941 when the Ark Royal, a modern aircraft carrier, was torpedoed and sunk.

By the summer of 1942, King George had already awarded Malta the George Cross for the bravery of its civilians. But military planners knew Malta would be forced to surrender if fuel, grain and ammunition did not get through before the end of August.

Operation Pedestal would involve 14 merchant vessels guarded by 64 warships, almost more than the current Royal Navy has in active service. Britain had improved the odds slightly with a number of successful runs by aircraft carriers to deliver more air support to Malta. But waiting to greet the flotilla were Italian and German air forces based in Sardinia and Sicily, and u-boats prowling the depths.


John Hamilton
The Glenorchy is Spotted, Pedestal Convoy, 13th August 1942, 1972


Art.IWM ART LD 7436
The British merchant vessel Glenorchy at sail at night, shown port side on and illuminated by the bright searchlight beam of a German U-boat.


John Hamilton
Malta Convoy. SS Brisbane Star and SS Rochester Castle, 1972


Art.IWM ART LD 7437
Two British merchant ships, SS Brisbane Star and SS Rochester Castle, are under attack from German dive-bombing aircraft. The two vessels are shrouded in smoke and plumes of sea water as a result of the explosions of bombs.


Within 24 hours disaster had struck when a U-boat slipped around four destroyers to torpedo HMS Eagle, one of the three aircraft carriers in the formation. Within six minutes she sank, taking 160 men and a large part of the air defences with her.

Many of the attacks were against the SS Ohio, an American oil tanker essential to the mission's success. Ohio was torpedoed on 12 August and then caught by two more bombs the following day. Although crippled, she did not immediately sink, giving the forces one last chance to bring her in. HMS Ledbury, working with other warships, came alongside.


John Hamilton
The Gallant Ohio, 1972


Art.IWM ART LD 7438
The large merchant oil tanker SS Ohio and three accompanying Royal Navy warships are under aerial attack from German planes. The vessels are shrouded in plumes of sea water from the explosions of bombs.


Through a combination of trial, error and sheer determination, the ships succeeded in propping up the Ohio and towing her into port before she could be hit again. As the Ohio was dragged into Valletta Grand Harbour, the sailors were greeted by scenes of jubilation on the medieval battlements around the capital. Malta knew it had been saved.

Within months, the Axis powers had effectively given up trying to take Malta and the way was open for the Allies to go on the offensive.

Peter Smith, author of the definitive book on Operation Pedestal, said that the mission's importance could not be underestimated:

"It was one of the small number of operations of the Second World War where you can say,
without a doubt, that it alone made a difference,"

said Mr Smith. read more...



IWM (A 11194)
Preliminary movements: 3-10 August 1942: HMS VICTORIOUS underway with the convoy. The tanker OHIO can be seen off VICTORIOUS' starboard quarter.



HU 47560
12 August: Evening Air and Submarine Attacks: The Italian submarine AXUM's torpedo strikes the tanker OHIO on her port side.



13 August: Air Attacks: Damage to the deck of the tanker OHIO sustained when an enemy aircraft crashed on her upper deck.



IWM (GM 1505)
The damaged tanker OHIO, supported by Royal Navy destroyers HMS PENN (left) and HMS LEDBURY (right), approaches Malta after an epic voyage across the Mediterranean as part of convoy WS21S (Operation Pedestal) to deliver fuel and other vital supplies to the besieged island. OHIO's back was broken and her engines failed during earlier German and Italian attacks. Because of the vital importance of her cargo (10,000 tons of fuel which would enable the aircraft and submarines based at Malta to return to the offensive), she could not be abandoned. In a highly unusual manoeuvre, the two destroyers supported her to provide buoyancy and power for the remainder of the voyage. The OHIO's captain was subsequently awarded the George Cross. The OHIO itself was sunk outside the harbour after discharging its cargo.



5 August: The arrival of the OHIO at Malta: The damaged tanker OHIO, with destroyers alongside, moving slowly through the minefield outside Grand Harbour, Valletta. The ship reached Malta safely after being torpedoed and attacked from the air.



IWM (GM 1480)
The damaged tanker OHIO, supported by Royal Navy destroyers, approaches Malta.


Wikipedia - Operation Pedestal

[purgatorio]

Julie Taymor
Strawberry Fields Forever (from "Across the Universe"), 2007







Wikipedia.org - Across the Universe (film)

[purgatorio]

wow. Ghost129er posted this short film in this topic. All credit for pointing it out goes to him!


Damian Nenow
Paths of Hate, 2010



CATEGORY:  Short animated film
COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION:  Poland
YEAR OF PRODUCTION:  2010
RUNNING TIME:  10 min.


SYNOPSIS
Focus on fight. The dimension of fighting is irrelevant, as
well as the ideology behind it. It does not matter whether
two people are involved or millions. what remains are only
scars – bloody traces, Paths of Hate. “Paths of Hate” is a short
tale about the demons that slumber deep in the human soul
and have the power to push people into the abyss of blind
hate, fury and rage. Falling into that abyss inevitably leads
to downright destruction and extinction.

GENESIS
Having made a funny film “The Great Escape” I wanted to
create an equally surreal but much more dynamic and serious
action film. I wanted to create a short film that would not
be yet another subversive anecdote that are in abundance
among short animated films – says Damian nenow director
and screenwriter – I have always been fascinated with eve-
rything that rises up in the air. I could not imagine a topic
more exciting than a duel of two fighter planes “Paths of
Hate” was to be a poster-like film in its assumption; a short
film that does not tell a story, does not analyze but shouts
out an uncomplicated slogan that motivates a viewer to
reflect for a moment. It was to be a piece of a larger story
into which a viewer falls in the middle of the plot. I wanted
“Paths of Hate” to be more than yet another show-off of
technical capabilities, filled with huge fighting robots or
trolls. I decided that an uncomplicated illustration of one
of humanity’s fundamental problems: a tendency for point-
less hate will be an ideal choice for my “poster” short film.

VISUAL/ARTISTIC CONCEPT
“Paths of Hate” is a film filled with spectacular and visually-
attractive scenes of aerial fight scenes. In its construction,
particular narration and, most of all, in its innovative and
technically-advanced stylization of the images based on 3D
graphics, it resembles an action comic book put in motion.
Having talked to Tomek Baginski I tried to set the world
of “Paths of Hate” in a highly stylized artistic convention.
In 2006 the first trailer was produced, it was at the same
time a technology test. Comic-book stylization hit the nail
on the head. I decided that the drawing-like line ideally fits
the surreal duel scenes and gives the film freshness and
distinguishes it from among photo-realistic 3D animations. –
Damian Nenow

PRODUCTION
The making of a ten-minute-long film turned out to be a far
greater challenge than I had initially anticipated. The rapidly
produced trailer and my previous film “The Great Escape”
gave me an illusive conviction that a film about two planes
in the clouds could be made quickly and painlessly without
engaging a large team of people. I was very much mistaken.
During the production of the film I underwent several stages
in life. I did not manage to finish the film at first take – says
Damian Nenow.

MUSIC
“Paths of Hate” is an audiovisual creation in the fullest mean-
ing of the word. I design my films from the very beginning,
assuming that music and sound are no less than a half of
the final effect. nevertheless, I never expected a true rock
hit to be created for my film. Almost a year before the works
on the film finished, Jaros?aw wójcik from the Genetix stu-
dio presented me with a working version of the music and
the final song “Paths of Hate”. The song not only perfectly
illustrates the narration and the dramatic aspects of the
film, but also adds a completely new quality to it keeping
viewers at the edge of their seats. A very important role is
played by sound effects – Damian nenow says.
The sound for “Paths of Hate” was being created for
3 months. It was a slow process as animation provides
vast opportunities for sound.
In the conversations with the director we found out what
his general expectations regarding specific elements and
the sound were. when working, we used various sound ef-
fects. Those were sounds as obvious as plane engine sound,
shots and ricochets but also specially transformed sounds
of a chimpanzee or roars of wildcats – maciej T?gi says.
Thanks to the combined layers we could then freely ma-
nipulate the whole of the sound during the final recording –
Jaros?aw wójcik ( Genetix Sound Studio ) – Our priority, when
it came to sound, was emphasizing the dynamic character
and the pace of the picture and conveying the fury of main
characters. we also tried to make the sound help viewers
find themselves in the space they are being transferred to
by the images which very frequently change very fast.

The making of you can see here in this video captured at the Siggraph 2011.
Where the director Damian Nenow explains about where his inspiration came from, cloud simulation, 3D rendering of the cockpit etc.:

http://motionographer.com/features/damian-nenow-at-siggraphpaths-of-hate/

To me 'the making of' are usually more interesting than the actual film. 

It looks like they used a simulator but the studio created everything themselves.

www.platigeshorts.com