Art and Daily Life in World War TwoBy Roger Tolson |
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The Queue at the Fish Bar
 Shoppers queue for fish ©
Although fresh fish was in short supply, and therefore very expensive, being perishable it was never rationed. Fish queues were therefore always long and even air raids could not disperse them. Dunbar’s canvas size emphasises the length of the queue (a cat has joined in, rather hopefully) and her observation of detail shows their determination and expectancy as they carry their large empty baskets and the fishmonger prepares the stall. More obviously, social conventions have held the queue together and conversations demonstrate the humanising of this strange new order.
 The painting shows women and old men - the younger men are in uniform on urgent business ©
Dunbar contrasts the expectations and duties of the population at war. The sign of the shop and its offer of abundance - ‘Large supplies of fresh fish from the coast daily’ - is read against the reality of the queue. She makes clear who is expected to queue - women and older men - and who will have their meals served to them. The passing serviceman on his bicycle and the service women facing us from the canvas have to attend more urgent business. The only civilians in a hurry are those rushing to join the queue.
Food supplies in the war
The management of food consumption, most obviously through the rationing of certain essentials, was introduced almost immediately at the start of World War Two. Fish supplies were affected as the Royal Navy requisitioned much of the fishing fleet and the German navy operating in the North Sea restricted the activity of the remaining east coast fleets. The shopping queue was not only a symbol of this change but also part of the difficult process of adapting to the new and daily realities.
The artist
Evelyn Dunbar (1906-1960), a mural and landscape painter, was given a series of commissions during World War Two. In her paintings, there is a recurring theme of women adapting to unfamiliar work and surroundings as both the war and technology moulded, framed and shaped lives: ambulance drivers have to be assisted into anti-gas protective clothing as their bodies become cumbersome and unrecognisable, land girls learn to milk cows using mechanical dummy machines, tailors and tailoresses prepare garments of war.
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