demand for usable artistic records
Does "the Second Boer War was not popular; hence the demand for usable artistic records" mean "the Second Boer War was not a popular war among people and they did not follow the events of the war, therefore the government needed artists who record and report the events of the war and celebrate its successes"?

Context:
The Second Boer War (1899–1902) used artists as quasi-war correspondents. A leading artist of the day was the jingoistic Richard Caton Woodville. Like the Crimean War, the Second Boer War was not popular; hence the demand for usable artistic records. Improvements in reproduction technology allowed art to illustrate newspapers and weekly magazines.

Question

demand for usable artistic records
Does "the Second Boer War was not popular; hence the demand for usable artistic records" mean  "the Second Boer War was not a popular war among people and they did not follow the events of the war, therefore the government needed artists who record and report the events of the war and celebrate its successes"?

Context:
The Second Boer War (1899–1902) used artists as quasi-war correspondents. A leading artist of the day was the jingoistic Richard Caton Woodville. Like the Crimean War, the Second Boer War was not popular; hence the demand for usable artistic records. Improvements in reproduction technology allowed art to illustrate newspapers and weekly magazines.

Answer

Hi,

I am a South African English teacher.

I would say in this context unpopular means the following:
Towards the end of the Second Boer War, there was considerable opposition against the war itself and the tactics employed by the Britsh forces especially after revelations about the conditions in the concentration camps. It was not that people were not interested in the war. They were against it. Hence, they needed more reporting on the war itself and used artists to draw and depict battle scenes. The artists, however, were few and far in-between as situations on the battlefront​ were often very dangerous.

Hope this helps!

Answers · 2

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