Allied Art
An artist's greatest talent, no matter his art form, is being able to express the unimaginable, to make others grasp the intangible and to give life to emotions buried in the collective subconscious.
For soldiers and civilians alike, the First World War evoked strong feelings not only of horror, fear, grief, loss, powerlessness and waste, but also of patriotism, camaraderie, joy, love and fellowship.
Here are a few paintings, drawings and etchings done during and after the Great War by Allied Forces' visual artists.
War Artists from the First World War
(The Defense of Sanctuary Wood. Kenneth Keith Forbes. Canadian War Museum.)
(Moonrise Over Mametz Wood. William Thurstan Topham. Canadian War Museum.)
(For What? Frederick Horsman Varley. Canadian War Museum.)
(Gas Attack, Liévin. A.Y. Jackson. Canadian War Museum.)
(The Taking of Vimy Ridge, Easter Monday, 1917. R. Jack. Canadian War Museum.)
(Night Bombardment. Paul Nash. National Gallery of Canada.)
(Vimy Ridge from Souchez Valley – study. A.Y. Jackson. Canadian War Museum.)
(Vimy Ridge from Souchez. Gyrth Russell. Canadian War Museum.)
(Throwing Grenades. Canadian War Museum.)
(The Crest of Vimy Ridge. Gyrth Russell. Canadian War Museum.)
(Observation Post #1. W.T. Topham. Canadian War Museum.)
(Ku Itu. Jules de Bruycker. Canadian War Museum.)
(A German Pill-Box After an Attack. W.T. Topham. Canadian War Museum.)
(A Night Raid. Harold James Mowat. Canadian War Museum.)
(Stretcher Bearers. H.J. Mowat. Canadian War Museum.)
(Trench Fight. H.J. Mowat. Canadian War Museum.)
(Observation Post #2. W.T. Topham. Canadian War Museum.)
(Fed up, Entrance to a dug-out. Canadian War Museum.)
"Men seemed to wander across No Man's Land and into the enemy trenches, as if the battle was a great bore to them. To me it seemed they must soon wake up and run. ... They could not realize the great danger they were in. ... It all seemed so unreal. How could I believe that the little brown figures moving about below me were really men? Men going to the glory of victory or the glory of death."(War in the Air. Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson. Canadian War Museum.)
(Sappers at Work: A Canadian Tunnelling Company. David Bombers. National Gallery of Canada)
(Frederick Horsman Varley. Canadian War Museum.)
(Maurice Galbraith Cullen. Canadian War Museum.)
(Alfred Théodore Joseph Bastien. Canadian War Museum.)
(Evening. A.Y. Jackson. Canadian War Museum.)
(David B. Milne National Gallery of Canada.)
(A Cemetery on Vimy Ridge. F.T. Bush. Canadian War Museum.)
(A Night Shoot. W.T. Topham. Canadian War Museum.)
The same place seen through the eyes of another artist.
(British Columbia. Mary Riter Hamilton. Library and Archives Canada.)
(Vimy Ridge. Reji Martin. Veterans Affairs Canada.)