Doris Zinkeisen and her artist sister. Anna (1901-76), both won scholarships to the Royal Academy Schools, and pursued successful careers as designers and society painters. In WWI they volunteered as VADs and again in WWII with St John Ambulance Brigade at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington. It is the contrast between the glamorous worlds of theatre, film, and galleries, and "the stark realities of wartime hospitals and post-war relief efforts" which makes Doris's work in particular so interesting. "Brushstrokes from the front lines'' concentrates on her time as one of the few female official war artists. This is is Casualty Reception (c1942, Museum of the Order of St John).

There was a sadly all-too-brief exhibition in London in May entitled "Doris Zinkeisen and the British Red Cross: Brushstrokes from the front lines". Fortunately, though, an excellent book was produced to coincide with the week-long show which concentrated on her work as an official war artist and presented a fascinating contrast with her glamorous personal image and pre-war society portraits. This is her famous Self Portrait (1929, NPG).

In the Netherlands, Volkstuinen, or allotments, date back to the C17th and today there are now around 240,000. They can often be seen from trains; the allotment-spotter will note that one significant difference between allotments in the UK and those in many European countries is that structures - cabins, sheds, summer houses - are permitted. As a result, these allotments fulfil many different social, creative, and familial roles, and not just the growing of fruit and vegetables.

Kolonilotter or allotments, modelled on those in Denmark, were established in southern Sweden in the mid-1890s. The oldest in Stockholm date from 1905 and the driving force behind their development in the city was the politician Anna Lindhagen (1870-1941). The Barnängen allotments (est. 1906) in Södermlam, visited recently, are lovely examples of what have become productive summer gardens with little wooden buildings, fences, outside eating areas, and plenty of flowers - all very Carl Larsson. 

There are more than a million Schrebergärten or allotments in Germany. The concept of organised allotment gardening evolved from the mid-1860s when the Schreber Movement started in the city of Leipzig, initially to provide green spaces for children to play in during the period of rapid industrialisation and urbanisation. 

This week on the Post we are answering our own question, posed in July 2019: "The allotment. A magic word. Do they exist worldwide?" Certainly they do in other European countries. In France there are potagers (kitchen gardens with a mix of produce and flowers) and jardins ouvriers or jardins familiaux which are closer to allotments. And in some places such as Amiens there are hortillonages, floating gardens created in the Middle Ages from marshland, and accessed by a network of small canals which makes for a fascinating boat trip for visitors.