Sunset: Wadi-um-Mukhsheib 1917 - 1919

James McBey made this drypoint etching, Sunset: Wadi-um-Mukhsheib, in 1919. This was just after McBey served as an official war artist in Palestine and Egypt during World War One. We know that McBey was employed to record and document the war, so this image raises interesting questions about the public role of art. In it, we see a group of resting camels with their handlers in a Middle Eastern landscape, which might seem like a simple scene of everyday life. However, the image also speaks to the cultural and political dimensions of British involvement in the region at the time. To better understand McBey’s image, we might look at the institutional histories of war art and the complex politics of imagery produced during wartime. What are the social conditions that shape artistic production in such contexts, and how do these conditions affect the way we interpret the art? Through such historical research, we can gain a richer understanding of the art and its place within British and Middle Eastern history.