World War II
When Townsend died in 1944, some said it was due to overwork. He had been busy during the war creating designs that could be used to camouflage Rolls-Royce's aircraft engine factories in Derby. These factories built the Merlin engines that powered the Spitfire and Hurricane fighters. Using his skills, he made the factory appear from the air to be no more than a village.
In 1944 Derby Art Gallery put on a memorial exhibition in his honour. Derby Art Gallery still houses a large collection of his work, although not on permanent display. Townsend's death in 1944 means that his works will not be in the public domain until 2014 and use of his paintings requires the permission of the copyright owner. There is a permanent display of reproductions of many of his works in the Standing Order public house in Derby.
Read more about this topic: Ernest Townsend
Famous quotes containing the words war ii, world and/or war:
“There’s no telling what might have happened to our defense budget if Saddam Hussein hadn’t invaded Kuwait that August and set everyone gearing up for World War II½. Can we count on Saddam Hussein to come along every year and resolve our defense-policy debates? Given the history of the Middle East, it’s possible.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)
“The grand principles of virtue and honor, however they may be distorted by arbitrary codes, are the same the world over: and where these principles are concerned, the right or wrong of any action appears the same to the uncultivated as to the enlightened mind.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“This is a war universe. War all the time. That is its nature. There may be other universes based on all sorts of other principles, but ours seems to be based on war and games.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)