Piccadilly Circus

Muirhead Bone, 1915

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Artist: Muirhead Bone (British, 1876–1953)
Medium: Drypoint etching
Size: Sheet: 16 x 21 15/16 inches (40.6 x 55.8 cm)
Museum: Yale Center for British Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

After the first Zeppelin raids in May 1915, London was blacked-out at night. The war seemed very far away to a young woman writing to her parents: "One needs to come to London to realise that a great war is waging. London is dead at night as far as illuminations go-the traffic and bustle still goes on though. We even have to pull down our blinds before we switch on the light . . . . We then walked to Holborn-the buildings were beautiful-went into a restaurant and it was a wonderful sight. The illuminations inside make up for the darkness of the streets.

The band was playing on a platform . . . the bandsmen were all in gaudy admiral costumes, the waiters were all dressed in velvet, the ladies were all dressed in style and we were all laughing and chatting and eating wonderful dishes. There was no semblance of war here. . . . We pass hundreds of soldiers every day, Belgians, French, Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders. It is quite common to see them marching through on their way to and from the trenches. It is wonderful to see how bright and happy they look."

Text: Yale Center for British Art.