In the deeply symbolic painting Family and Burning Town the explicit theme of postwar

displacement threatening the lives of refugees is as topical now as it was in the 1950’s.

The archetypal family has come to disaster and their calm demeanour amidst chaos

conveys the high degree of their spiritual strength. Charred buildings, dislocated forms

and vivid red triangular flames represent the town being consumed by fire as the family

portrayed here stand stoically surrounded by the central golden and white aura of their

‘island of safety’ beside a small tree. For this brief moment the tree remains verdant and

the family are unmolested by the coming inferno, putting one in mind of the Holocaust.