A Trobriand Dance at Night; and A Village at Night

Born in England, Silas studied in his father's studio and under Sickert. He moved to Australia in 1907, settling eventually in Perth. He served with the A.I.F. in the Great War, took part in the Anzac landings at Gallipoli, and later painted pictures of the campaign for the Australian War Memorial. After the war, he visited Papua and the Trobriand Islands where he produced some of his finest work and recalled his experiences in A Primitive Arcadia: 'to these islands, hitherto untouched by the artist's brush, I made two expeditions, in anticipation of being able to portray something of the subtle beauties and extravagant colour schemes of this strange quarter of the globe, wherein Nature lays out her palette with an impartial hand, rioting her imagination and contradicting many artistic truths common to other climes ... It was announced that the dances would be performed some time during the full moon ... A song is chanted in an undertone as the dancers appear. Their hair is a mass of cockatoo plumes, giving them almost the appearance of giant chrysanthemums ...' (E. Silas, A Primitive Arcadia, being the impressions of an artist in Papua, London, 1926, pp.1-176)