| Object Number: | D_EDM_0239 | |
| Date: | - | |
| Category: | Drawings, Paper, and Pastel | |
| Material: | Paper |
This is a compositional study for an oil painting which was exhibited in the Red Cross Exhibition in 1916. The painting was described in that catalogue as follows: Wielded by an Angel the search-light reveals the diabolical source of all the ruin and devastation portrayed in this picture. In ‘The Search-Light’ the forces of good and evil directly confront one another. Here the forces of evil, portrayed as a satanic figure with bat like wings, hovers over a desolate landscape in which figures take refuge in ruined buildings, symbolic of the collapse of civilization. Opposing this diabolical force is a winged angel, representing hope and salvation, who illuminates the landscape with a search light which repels the infernal forces. In the final painting the same redemptive angel also casts a rainbow over the landscape signifying hope for the future. Images representing the struggle between the forces of light and darkness are found repeatedly in Evelyns work and spiritualist writings.