A lot of work went in to creating prosthetics for wounded soldiers. The mask had to be fitted to the individual. Unlike uncomplicated facial deformities, treating wounded soldiers was much harder since their wounds were almost always infected, and there were no antibiotics. More than 12% of wounded British expeditionary force soldiers developed gangrene in 1914.
Sketches and pictures of the wounded soldiers mark an important milestone in medical history since they stand as early surgical records of what we now know as plastic surgery.
Tonk’s art shows how the disfigured face is often neglected from traditional portraiture. His drawings reflect Gillies’ surgical procedures in the most clear and economic form possible.
He took the wound out of its human context, removing any hint of psychological or physical interiority apart from the wound itself. The purpose of these images was to be surgical and instructive, not for the people in them to be analysed by the public.
The use of colour in Tonk’s drawings were valuable since they provided more clarity than black and white images. This was helpful to medical records at the time, but also to the modern historian.
Above: pastel sketch of a wounded soldier drawn by Henry Tonks