Born in 1927, Norman was a teenager during the war and 18 in 1945. In 1945 he was called up and chose to be a conscientous objector. For this he spent a short time in Wormwood Scrubs, after which he was ordered to work on a farm. His surviving early work reflects prison life and the ghastly news coming out of Germany.
The Gates of Paradise, 1947.
This drawing is an attempt to come to terms with the news of the concentration camps. People queue to enter paradise, which could be a concentration camp, or a park in London. Occasionally some individuals are taken aside, and do not enter. Is the mass of people going to paradise? And are those not allowed in going to something worse?
Kingdom of Apathy, drawn about 1946.
Norman's early ambition was to be a cartoonist. This drawing may have been a reaction to European democracies of the time. The king who does not care sits on his throne, surrounded by sycophants. Below this capitalism and degeneracy results in misery.
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