The Changi Murals: The Story of Stanley Warren’s War
When Bombardier Stanley Warren first painted the Changi Murals in Luke’s Chapel, Roberts Barracks, Singapore in 1942, his fellow prisoners knew so little about him that they made up their own myths about the mysterious painter.
This carefully researched account reveals the truth behind the man and his murals. It follows Stanley Warren’s journey through World War II: from soldier, to prisoner of war, and his return to civilian life. It also tells of his remarkable, long-standing relationship with the murals – from when he was seriously ill as he began to paint the first of the five murals to how he was identified in 1959 as the lost artist of Changi, and how he returned twice to Singapore to restore the paintings.
Size: 145 x 213 mm
Extent: 128 pages text + 4 pages covers
Binding: Paperback
Weight: 228 g
With over 70 illustrations, including full-colour reproductions of the Changi Murals, archival photographs, sketches and maps.
ISBN: 978-981-4189-87-3
Reviews
I read this book with profit and interest. This is a powerful story of how one prisoner of war, experiencing pain and degradation, was able to express through art his unshakeable belief in a common humanity we all share – both friend and foe.
– Dr Kevin Blackburn
This episode has an important place in the Changi story and I am delighted that Peter Stubbs has now recorded it in full. It covers Warren’s experiences and his wonderful work on the Murals most comprehensively, and will prove worthwhile to historiography of Singapore’s wartime years.
– Air Commodore H.A. Probert
I am glad someone has written this down in full and provided a quick background to Stanley Warren’s time during the war, his motivations behind the murals… Our generation should also be thankful that Stanley has managed to restore them personally.
– Goodreads