01 Painting, The art of War, André Fougeron's Massacre at Sakiet, with footnotes

Peter de Francia

The Bombing of Sakiet, c. 1959

Oil paint on canvas

1898 × 3653 × 27 mm

Tate

Sixty-eight Tunisian civilians were killed in a raid on the village of Sakiet Sidi Yousef in 1958. The attack was part of French repressions in neighbouring Algeria, and provoked condemnation around the world. Shocked by the event, de Francia dedicated this epic canvas to the innocent victims. Rather than attempting an accurate record, he used fragmented imagery and harsh colour contrasts to convey the destruction. Like André Fougeron at the same moment in France, de Francia used his art as a means of protest. More on this painting

Peter Laurent de Francia (25 January 1921 – 19 January 2012) was born in Beaulieu-sur-Mer Alpes Maritimes, France to an Italian father, Laurent Fernand de Francia, and an English mother, Alice Groom. He grew up in Paris and was educated at Paris's American school, followed by studies in art at the Academy of Brussels (1938–40), and after settling in London, at the Slade School of Fine Art, University of London, in the years 1945-1948

He worked at the Canadian Government Exhibition Commission in Ottawa (1949–1950) and in the Architects' Department of the American Museum in New York City (1950–1951). From 1953 to 1968, he was a tutor in the Department of Art History and Complementary Studies at St Martin's School of Art, London (1953–1968), and from 1963 to 1969 also tutored in the Department of Art History and Complementary Studies at the Royal College of Art (RCA). He was Principal of the Department of Fine Art, Goldsmiths' College, University of London (1969–72), and from 1972 to 1986 was Professor of Painting at the RCA.

He is buried on the eastern side of Highgate Cemetery. More on Peter Laurent de Francia

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