Sapper Stanley Keith Pearl

Australian Stanley Keith Pearl was a sapper with the First Australian Imperial Force during World War I. His exact dates of birth and death are unclear. After enlisting at the town of Ulverstone in Tasmania on the 9th of November 1915 at twenty-one years of age, Pearl, in August 1916, became a sapper with the Australian 5 Field Company Engineers. He performed this role for the duration of the war. Many details on Pearl himself remain a mystery. A consideration of the phenomenal trench art collection that he produced, however, helps to piece together essential information about him.

World War I
Pearl was a joiner by trade whose father was Charles Pearl of Ulverstone, Tasmania. Pearl was Anglican. He embarked from Sydney to Alexandria and then the Western Front (World War I) in France aboard HMAT Orsova on the 11th of March 1916. He undertook a brief stint with the 8 Field Company Engineers (Reinforcement 4) before joining the 5 Field Company Engineers. Pearl’s Victory Medal (United Kingdom) and British War Medal are held in the Australian War Memorial’s collection.

Pearl produced a phenomenal collection of trench art between 1916 and 1919. Pearl donated his trench art objects to the Australian War Memorial but whether this reflects the full extent of that which he produced in the context of war remains a mystery. A total of fifteen of Pearl’s oeuvre are held in the Australian War Memorial’s Military Heraldry collection. Military shell cases, other parts of shells, badges and buttons were just some of the war-related materials used by Pearl to assemble everyday objects such as a clock, a map of Tasmania and a hat pin stand, as is evidenced by the accessibility and digitisation of his work on the War Memorial’s online collection (see external links for selection of images). One can become more familiar with Pearl’s work through such a collection as it displays images of the objects together with Pearl’s own field notes. The accompanying field notes that Pearl documented alongside each piece are fascinating as this was not a feature typically associated with First World War trench art. Pearl used matter-of-fact language where tales of death became mere descriptions. Pearl’s field notes and his details on the First World War embarkation roll are useful additional primary sources for historians, art historians and anthropologists.

Post-war and legacy
There is no evidence to suggest that Pearl is survived by anyone, nor have any photographs of him been discovered. He is an “enigma.” It is therefore Pearl’s material existence in the form of trench art that survives, the power of which is subsequently elevated. The creative and artistic vision of Pearl to contribute to the material culture of World War I, of which trench art is a fascinating example, has meant that his name lives on through these well-crafted, striking objects. Pearl was unconsciously engaging with features of material culture such as bricolage and recyclia in producing trench art. The fact that he was a joiner pre-war also speaks to this refined, craftsmanship-like quality to his pieces.

Pearl survived World War I. During March of 1919, Pearl returned to Tasmania, although soon relocated to Canberra. He began working for the Australian War Memorial in 1941, the year that it opened, and continued to do so until he retired. He worked as a carpenter and senior tradesman at the War Memorial. The electoral roll details Pearl’s exact position at the War Memorial as an ‘installation manager.’ Such hands-on employment echoes his pre-war occupation as a joiner.

A recent exhibition entitled Sappers & Shrapnel: Contemporary Art and the Art of the Trenches at the Art Gallery of South Australia showcased Pearl’s trench art. The exhibition presented Pearl’s pieces alongside other First World War trench art objects and more recent works of art that reflected on war today. Such a display, in bringing together the historical and the contemporary, was the first opportunity whereby the trench art of Pearl was exposed to a wider audience. It is evidence that Pearl and his trench art collection hold an important relevance today and will continue to do so in the future, especially in studies of history, art history and anthropology.

A selection of Stanley Keith Pearl's trench art pieces (external due to image rights), Australian War Memorial collection

 * Trench Art Chrysanthemum Vase, 1918-19
 * Trench Art Clock, March 1918
 * Trench Art Hat Pin Stand, May 1918
 * Trench Art Map of Tasmania, 1917