Stanley Pearl

Stanley Keith Pearl (21 December 1893 – 9 August 1986) was an Australian sapper with the First Australian Imperial Force during World War I, known for his trench art.

Early life
Stanley Keith Pearl was born on 21 December 1893 in Ulverstone, Tasmania, the youngest child of Charles Pearl and Sophia Ann Wells.

Pearl was a joiner by trade, and belong to the Anglican church.

World War I
After enlisting in his home town on 9 November 1915 at 21 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.

He embarked from Sydney to Alexandria and then the Western Front (World War I) in France aboard HMAT Orsova on 11 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 large 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 15 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). The collection displays images of the objects together with Pearl's own field notes, which were unusual to find in First World War trench art. Pearl used matter-of-fact language where tales of death became mere descriptions.

Post-war
Pearl survived World War I. During March 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 worked as a carpenter and senior tradesman there until he retired. The electoral roll lists his position there as an "installation manager".

Stanley first married Doris Jean Hobbs, who died in 1965. He then married Gertrude Iris, who had previously been married to Stanley's brother Ernest Tasman Pearl.

Death and legacy
Stanley died at Woden Valley Hospital, Canberra, on 9 August 1986 at the age of 92 years, survived by Gertrude.

There is no evidence to suggest that Pearl is survived by anyone, nor have any photographs of him been discovered; He is an "enigma." his trench art is all that survives of his existence. His creative and artistic vision has contributed to the material culture of World War I. According to Corinne A. Kratz, Pearl was unconsciously engaging with features of material culture such as bricolage and recyclia in producing trench art. 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.

A 2016-7 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, by artists including Ben Quilty, Olga Cironis, Nicholas Folland, and Aboriginal women artists from Tjanpi Desert Weavers. 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.

Works

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