Summary
The images produced by Official War Artists during the First World War include some of the most moving works of art of the twentieth – or indeed any – century.
Synopsis
This study day looks at the work of a group of young British war artists and considers the ways in which they recorded this new and terrifying form of war in a body of work still remarkable for its ability to move and shock. We’ll consider the ways in which their paintings were radically different from anything produced before and see how their own personal experiences transformed their art. We shall also look at some of the popular and propaganda images of the time, see how the urge to commemorate the fallen produced some highly controversial war memorials, and look at what happened to the young artists when Peace was finally declared.
