"Artists of the First World War" - book of an exhibition held in 2019

 

We have just published our latest book - "Artists of the First World War" - the book of an exhibition held in 2019.  I am hoping to produce a second volume as I keep finding interesting little-known (to me at any rate) WW1 artists, so if you have ideas as to artists you would like to see included please get in touch.  

The “launch” edition of the artists book contains images of 80 art works in varying sizes – 47 in colour and 33 in black and white.  It also has 55 black and white photographs – either portraits of the artists or shots of their surroundings. There are two pages of further book suggestions at the back. Of the 120 pages in total, only 21 have no images on them at all.

The book is an A5 portrait format paperback, printed on 115gsm silk stock. It is intended as a general interest book rather than a “fine art” publication.

For further details and/or to order please follow this link: http://www.poshupnorth.com/2020/12/artists-of-first-world-war-volume-1.html

Tom Purvis (1888-1959) – British artist known as the ‘King of the Hoardings.

Tom was born in Bristol, the son of sailor and marine artist and sea Captain Thomas George Purvis.   Tom studied art at the Camberwell School of Art for three years after winning scholarships and went on to study under Degas and Walter Sickert.

He produced art work for the advertising agency Mather & Crowther and spent six years learning the art of advertising, followed by two years at the Avenue Press, where he mastered the practical side of lithographic printing. Tom's first independent poster was produced for Dewar’s Whisky in 1907 when he was 19. 

During the First World War, Tom served as a Captain in the Artist’s Rifles Regiment and went on to design covers for London Magazine and Passing Show and much other advertising artwork.

Source:

https://365posterblog.com/2015/09/08/early-tom-purvis/

A sketch by John McCrae (1872 – 1918) Canadian poet, writer, artist, army officer and physician

I am very grateful to Tammy of the Guelph Museums for her help in finding artwork by John McCrae

John McCrae, who was born on 30th November 1872 in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. was the second son of David McCrae, a woollen manufacturer, and Janet Simpson Eckford. 

He became an officer in the Canadian Royal Artillery and served in the Second Boer War in South Africa, as well as in the First World War on the Western front.  

John, who was among the first of the Canadian contingent to go to France, died on 28th January 1918 in Boulogne, France, held the rank of Major and Brigade Surgeon (he was also unofficially second in command) of the 1st Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery, in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. 

In June 1915 John McCrae left the artillery brigade to become Lieutenant-Colonel in charge of medicine at No.3 Canadian General Hospital, an army hospital in France, staffed by friends and colleagues from his Alma Mater McGill University. On 24th Jannuary 1918, John was appointed consulting physician to the 1st British army - the first Canadian to be so honoured. He did not live to appreciate the distinction because he died four days later of pneumonia and meningitis. He was buried with full military honours in the cemetery at Wimereux, France. 

As I am sure you all know, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae’s famous poem “In Flanders Fields” was the inspiration behind the use of the red poppy as a universal symbol of remembrance.

Here are links to further examples of his art work in their collection sent to me by the Guelph Museum

https://guelph.pastperfectonline.com/archive/45D365BD-1DD2-491E-857A-333281262539

https://guelph.pastperfectonline.com/archive/B962FF64-D543-4487-BD2F-366223251682

https://guelph.pastperfectonline.com/archive/F5CCA373-F10C-494E-B098-343622037720

https://guelph.pastperfectonline.com/archive/862D6548-ED5D-4CDD-BCD3-323915536432

https://guelph.pastperfectonline.com/archive/4DE51DE4-620C-48ED-9E42-635872418500

https://guelph.pastperfectonline.com/archive/47359386-42D5-4D13-9461-102672545773

https://guelph.pastperfectonline.com/archive/C0EB7C1D-754C-4A6F-A308-654112459090

https://guelph.pastperfectonline.com/archive/5908D67D-08B5-425B-88D9-527546718780

https://guelph.pastperfectonline.com/archive/28C95827-3EF3-4795-8430-412648348467

https://guelph.pastperfectonline.com/archive/4CE61AD8-4086-4E7C-B692-126324185775

https://guelph.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/0ADE07EE-F558-44D8-82F5-344184290941

"Trenches on the Somme by Canadian artist

Mary Riter Hamilton

"In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row, 

That mark our place, and in the sky, 

The larks, still bravely singing, fly, 

Scarce heard amid the guns below. 

We are the dead; short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, 

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields. 

Take up our quarrel with the foe! 

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high! 

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

John Laviers Wheatley ARA (1892 – 1955) - British artist, art teacher and museum director

John was born on 23rd January 1892.  He studied art and was taught by Stanhope Forbes and Walter Sickert before going on to study at the Slade School of Art.  

John served in the Artists' Rifles during the First World War and later was designated an official war artist. The British War Memorials Committee appointed John to record the work of the Royal Navy in British home ports. 

He served as a war artist in both World Wars. 

After the end of WW1, John went to South Africa to become Director of the National Gallery and was a Professor at the University of Cape Town. John returned to Britain in 1937 and became Director of the City Art Galleries, Sheffield, and later became Curator of the National Gallery of British Sports and Pastimes.

A  portrait of WW1 soldier poet Edward Thomas, with whom John served in the Artists Rifles.

Divers at Work Repairing a Torpedoed Ship (1918) (Art.IWM ART 2245)

by John Laviers Wheatley

Horace Pippin (1888 - 1946) - American artist

Horace Pippin (February 22, 1888 – July 6, 1946) was a self-taught American artist who painted a range of themes, including scenes inspired by his service in WW1, landscapes, portraits and biblical subjects. 

During the First World War, Horace served in K Company, the 3rd Battalion of the 369th infantry regiment, known because of their bravery in battle as the famous Harlem Hellfighters.  They were transferred to the command of the French Army and were the longest serving U.S. regiment during the conflict. The entire Regiment was awarded the French Croix de Guerre. 

In September 1918, Horace was shot in the right shoulder by a German sniper.  The injury initially cost him the use of his arm and always limited his range of motion. He was honorably discharged in 1919 and was retroactively awarded a Purple Heart for his combat injury in 1945.

Taling about his war-time experiences, Horace said “I did not care what or where I went. I asked God to help me, and he did so. And that is the way I came through that terrible and Hellish place. For the whole entire battlefield was hell, so it was no place for any human being to be.”

After the war, Horace created four memoirs - one of which he illustrated - describing the horrors of his military service. He returned to war subjects periodically throughout the 1930s and 1940s, and later said that WWI "brought out all the art in me".

With thanks to my dear friend Margaret for bringing Horace Pippin to my attention 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Pippin

"The Ending of the War" by Horace Pippin

Paintings:  Self portrait; Three Soldiers on March and The Ending of the War by Horace Pippin

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Pippin

Henry Lionel Field (1894 – 1916) – British soldier poet and artist

Quite a few of the WW1 poets were also artists.

Henry was born on 2nd May 1894. Educated at Marlborough College, he went on to study art at Birmingham School of Art.  He joined the 6th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment as a Second Lieutenant in September 1914 and was sent to the Western Front in February 1916.

Hentry was killed on the first day of the Somme Offensive – 1st July 1916 – and is buried in Serre Road Cemetery No. 2, Beaumont Hamel et Hébuterne, Somme, Nord Pas de Calais, France.

His poetry collection “Poems and Drawings” was published by Cornish, Birningham in 1917.  One of his poems was included in the anthology “The Valiant Muse”, edited by F.W. Ziv and published by Putnam, New York, in 1936.

https://forgottenpoetsofww1.blogspot.com/2018/12/henry-lionel-field-1894-1916-british.html

Henry Lionel Field featured in the exhibition “Poets, Writers and Artists on The Somme, 1916”, held at The Wilfred Owen Story in Birkenhead, Wirral in 2016.  There is a book of the exhibition panels available via Amazon:  http://www.poshupnorth.com/2016/06/the-somme-1916-available-1st-july-pre.html

A sketch from Lionel's book:

William Robert Gregory, MC (1881 - 1918) – Irish airman, cricketer and artist

With thanks to Poet and Historian Becky Bishop for finding this artist

William Robert Gregory, known as Robert, was born on 21st May 1881 in Athenry, County Galway, Ireland.  He was the only child of Sir William Henry Gregory and Lady Gregory, a poet and writer and associate of Irish poet W. B. Yeats.   Educated at Harrow, Oxford University and the Slade School of Art, London, Robert was an excellent all-round sportsman, good at bowls, boxing, horse riding and cricket. He once played for the Ireland Cricket Team. 

Robert married fellow Slade School of Art student, Margaret Parry and worked in Paris at the design studio of Jacques Émile Blanche. An exhibition of his work was held in Chelsea, London in 1914. He was also a book illustrator.

In 1915, in spite of being married with three children by then, Robert initially joined the 4th Connaught Rangers, but in 1916 transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, where he trained as a fighter pilot and joined 40 Squadron.  As a fighter pilot, Robert was credited with eight victories, which gave him ace status. The French awarded him their Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur in 1917 and he was awarded a Military Cross for "conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty."

Robert flew the following planes: Royal Aircraft Factory RE-8, the French Nieuport and, at the time of his death, the Sopwith Camel.   Robert was killed serving on the Italian Front at Monastiero, Padua, Italy on 23rd January 1918, at the age of 36.  He was buried in Padua War Cemetery, Padua, Provincia di Padova, Veneto, Italy – Grave Reference:  Plot A.12.

Robert's death had a lasting effect on William Butler (W. B.) Yeats (1865 – 1939), who wrote four poems about Robert’s death – this is the most famous of those poems:

"An Irish Airman Foresees His Death"

I know that I shall meet my fate,

Somewhere among the clouds above;

Those that I fight I do not hate,

Those that I guard I do not love;

My country is Kiltartan Cross,

My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,

No likely end could bring them loss

Or leave them happier than before.

Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,

Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,

A lonely impulse of delight

Drove to this tumult in the clouds;

I balanced all, brought all to mind,

The years to come seemed waste of breath,

A waste of breath the years behind

In balance with this life, this death.

Pictured Major Robert Gregory, Lady Gregory's son who inspired W.B. Yeats's "An Irish Airman Foresees His Death," pictured beside his drawing of Yeats's Thoor Ballylee tower, c. 1917. (Photo courtesy of the Thoor Ballylee Visitors Centre)

Other Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Gregory_(cricketer)

WW1 Artists, Photographers, Sculptors and more who were awarded medals for exceptional bravery

Some of the Artists, Photographers, etc. that I have found during the course of my research, who were awarded medals for bravery.  I am still working on this list, so if you know of others please let me know.  

Harry Epworth Allen, MM (1894 - 1958) – British artist awarded Military Medal for conspicuous bravery in the field

Joseph Marius Jean Avy (1871 - 1939) - French Croix de Guerre – French artist 

Geoffrey de Gruchy Barkas, MC, artist/film maker

Alan Edmund Beeton, MC

John Warwick Brooke DCM – official WW1 war photographer

William Robert Gregory MC (1881 – 1918)  - Irish-born, RFC/RAF British airman, artist and cricketer; France made him a Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur in 1917

Carl W Herman, MM (1888 – 1955) – artist

Charles Constantin Joseph Hoffbauer, Croix de Guerre (1875 – 1957) – French-born American artist 

Leslie Fraser Standish Hore, MC (1870 - 1935)  - artist - Captain in Australian Light Horse WW1

Charles Sargeant Jagger MC ARA (1885 – 1934) - British sculptor

Richard Barrett Talbot Kelly MC (1896-1971) - Lieutenant, Royal Field Artillery

Henry Taylor Lamb MC (1883 - 1960) - Australian-born artist; Royal Army Medical Corps battalion medical officer with the 5th Battalion, The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in Palestine & Western Front 

A W Lloyd, MC – Arthur Wynell Lloyd (1883 - 1933) – British cartoonist

Walter Marsden MC (1882–1969) - sculptor

William Charles Penn MC (1877 – 1968) - artist; 5th Battalion The King’s (Liverpool) Regiment

Geneste Penrose MM - British artist 

Gerald Spencer Pryse MC (1882–1956) - British artist and lithographer

Herbert Edward Read DSO, MC, Mentioned in Despatches (1893 – 1968) - served Green Hoards

E.H. Shepard, MC – artist

William George Storm, MC (1882 - 1917) – Canadian artist

Dents Wells, BEM (1881-1973) - artist; served in the Artists Rifles during WWI; awarded a B.E.M. for gallantry. 

Sir George Hubert Wilkins MC & Bar (31 October 1888 – 30 November 1958).

Pictured above: The British Empire Medal.  First established in 1917;  could be awarded for either meritorious service or for gallantry. It was awarded to 2,015 people, 800 of whom were from other countries.

The French medal Croix de Guerre 

The Croix de Guerre (Tr. Cross of War) is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awarded during the First World War, again in World War II, and in other conflicts; the croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures ("cross of war for external theatres of operations") was established in 1921. The Croix de Guerre was also bestowed on foreign military forces allied to France.

Evan Frederic Morgan, 2nd Viscount Tredegar, FRHortS, FRSL, FRSA, FZS, FAGS, FIL (13 July 1893 – 27 April 1949) - poet, artist, soldier, and statesman

With thanks to Historian Poet Becky Bishop for finding Evan Morgan, who was a cousin of Raymond Juzio Paul de Rodakowski-Rivers (1895 - 1917)

Born on 13th July 1893, Evan’s parents were Courtenay Morgan, 1st Viscount Tredegar, of Tredegar Park, Monmouthshire, Wales, and his wife, Lady Katharine Carnegie.  Educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford University, Evan was commissioned into the Welsh Guards in 1915 and served during WW1 as a King’s messenger (Carrying diplomatic papers to Embassies), working for French General Robert Nivelle in North Africa, after which he became ill. While recuperating at Garsington Manor, Evan became friends with another Oxford graduate, the poet Robert Graves, who had been at school with Evan's cousin, Raymond Rodakowski-Rivers and who was recuperating after being wounded while serving in France.

In 1917, following a period of ill health, Evan became private secretary to British government minister William Clive Bridgeman. From 1915 to 1916, Bridgeman was Lord of the Treasury and Assistant Director of the War Trade Department. With the creation of Lloyd George's coalition in 1916, Bridgeman became Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour until 1919 and then Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade in 1919 and 1920, after which he served as Secretary for Mines from 1920 to 1922.

On 3rd March 1934, Evan succeeded to the title of 6th Baronet Morgan, 4th Baron Tredegar, and 2nd Viscount Tredegar, after the death of his father.

During the Second World War, Evan served with MI8, his responsibility was to monitor carrier pigeons. He carelessly let slip on occasion departmental secrets to two girl guides and was court martialed but not sent to jail or worse.

Evan received the following awards: He was decorated with the following awards:

Knight of Honour and Devotion, Sovereign and Military Order of Malta

Knight of Justice, Constantinian Order of St. George

Knight of Justice, Order of St. John of Jerusalem (KJStJ)

Commander, Order of the Holy Sepulchre (with star)

Here is one of his poems:

“What of the Dead ?”

IF in the repose of an arbour 

Under a western sky 

One dreams of a vast eternal 

And one questions the reason why ; 

Why joy should dissolve into sorrow, 

Why pearls should melt in the wine, 

And whether the new dawning morrow 

Will reckon the close of our time ? 

If in the repose of the arbour 

One gazes on nature around, 

Is there some definite answer 

In the earth or the sky to be found ? 

Are we the pawns of a Jevah 

That move on a cross-chequered board ? 

Propelled from the back by a lever, 

Controlled, supervised by a Lord ? 

Given a pen as a plaything 

To scribble out poems and plays 

Works that we worship with reverence, 

The blossoms of earlier days 

Given a spirit of reason, 

Given a mind to attend, 

Given a soul filled with treason 

To embitter and poison the end ? 

Is there a peaceful Nirvana ? 

Is there a rest for the soul ? 

A bed for the toil-driven Karma, 

A telos ? a Heaven ? a goal ? 

What of the slain in the battle ? 

What of the dead on the field ? 

Foul slaughtered like horses and cattle, 

Those men that we use as a shield : 

If ever a soul got to Heaven ! 

If ever soul reaped a reward ! 

Those whose red blood has been given 

A gift to their own native sward : 

Those are the ones for a Heaven, 

For a peace and a pleasure unknown, 

By their work are they all self-forgiven, 

Let their blood for His Blood atone. 

From “Soldier Poets: Songs of the Fighting Men” Edited by Galloway Kyle (Erskine Macdonald, London, 1916).  This is now available as a free download from Archive:

https://archive.org/stream/soldierpoetssong00kyleuoft/soldierpoetssong00kyleuoft_djvu.txt

Although he apparently painted a great deal in his younger years and exhibited his work in Paris, I have so far only been able to find a self portrait by Evan.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Morgan,_2nd_Viscount_Tredegar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MI8

https://biography.wales/article/s2-MORG-FRE-1893

https://strangeflowers.wordpress.com/2011/04/27/the-double-life-of-evan-morgan/

https://alchetron.com/Evan-Morgan,-2nd-Viscount-Tredegar

https://tredegarhouse.wordpress.com/tag/robert-graves/?fbclid=IwAR3UXMs5muA4phLdHLi_sj_5-qYpXURMryfJyYBks2Q65Y4bJB2R6J6dRm8

Commemorative First World War Exhibition Project

This self-funded project is in memory of my Grandfather, who was an Old Contemptible  with the Royal Field Artillery who survived, and my two Great Uncles who lost their lives in WW1.

I began researching WW1 in 2012 for an exhibiton of Female Poets of the First World War, requested by Dean Johnson, founder of the Wilfred Owen Story museum (The WOS), Wirral, UK.   Once the exhibition was on display, I just continued researching, adding other headings. Inspirational Women of WW1 came about when I stumbled on the story of Canadian artist Mary Riter Hamilton, commissioned in early 1919 by the Canadian Amputees Association to go and paint the aftermath in France and Belgium.  Philip Gosse, MD, a General Practitioner in Britain was the Official Rat Catcher Officer of the British Second Army on the Western Front, which brought about Fascinating Facts of the Great War.  Realisation that Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon and Robert Graves were not the only male soldier poets of WW1, prompted me to start researching Forgotten Poets of the First World War.  I am now researching lesser-known artists of WW1.

Exhibition panels are e-mailed free of charge to anyone wishing to host an exhibition.  Exhibitions have been held in a wide variety of locations throughout the UK, as well as in Cork University, Ireland and in Delaware University, USA, and panels have been sent to schools.  If you know of a venue that would like to display panels, please ask them to contact me and I will send them the list of panels researched so far. 

If you are interested in exhibiting any of the panels researched so far, a full list of panels available will be sent on request.  Some of the panels have been put into book form – please see http://www.poshupnorth.com/ for details.

LUCY LONDON

Commemorative First World War Exhibition Project

www.fascinatingfactsofww1.blogspot.co.uk

www.inspirationalwomenofww1.blogspot.co.uk

www.femalewarpoets.blogspot.co.uk

www.forgottenpoetsofww1.blogspot.co.uk

http://lesserknownartists.blogspot.com/

https://worldofnadjamalacrida.blogspot.com/

http://greatwargraves.blogspot.com/

Also on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Inspirational-Women-of-World-War-One-187332758143199/

https://www.facebook.com/femalepoetsofthefirstworldwar/

https://www.facebook.com/forgottenpoetsofww1/

https://www.facebook.com/fascinatingfactsofww1/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/385353788875799/

Mabel Frances Layng (1881 – 1937) – British artist and WW1 VAD

With thanks to Historian Debbie Cameron for finding this artist

Mabel Layng was born on 9th November 1881 at the Grammar School House, Cumberland Street, Macclesfield, Cheshire; she was the elder of two daughters born to Alfred Edward Freestone Layng and his wife, Ada Mary, nee Coates.

Alfred Layng was widowed in 1883 and in March 1884 he took up the post of headmaster of King Edward VI School in Stafford, Staffordshire, taking his daughters with him.

In 1902 Mabel Layng left Stafford to study at the St. John's Wood Art School. She then went on to study under Frank Brangwyn at the London School of Art in Kensington between 1906 and 1908.

From 1914 until her death in 1937, Mabel lived with her sister Ada in Ealing, Middlesex, earning a living as a professional artist.   During the First World War, she joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment of the British Red Cross on 9th August 1915 and worked at several different London hospitals until 13th January 1919.

One of several Red Cross record cards for Mabel Layng

Mabel’s work was first exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1916 ("The Strolling Players"). Further paintings were accepted by the Royal Academy: "Mars and Venus" (1920).

"Mars and Venus" painted in 1918

Sources:  British Red Cross WW1 Records and Wikipedia

Louis Delozanne ( - 1918) – French artist

Just one example of Louis' work

Louis was born in Serzy, near Rheims, France and in WW1 he joined the 106th Regiment of Artillery of the French Army as a medic and travelled with them for four years.   He took his pencil with him, along with a notebook and made drawings of what he saw on the Western Front. 

After finding some colouring crayons, Louis was able to make some colour pictures.  His Regiment was deployed in Verdun, Bar le Duc and les Eparges.

Just twelve days before the end of the war, Louis was killed at Saint-Germer de Fly in the Oise – another very talented young man lost to the ‘war to end all wars’.

With thanks to Béatrice Keller for finding these links and posting on the Facebook Group Artists of the First World War

https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/grand-est/histoires-14-18-louis-delozanne-dessinateur-du-front-1149063.html

http://14-18.documentation-ra.com/2020/04/les-carnets-de-campagne-de-louis-delozanne/?fbclid=IwAR35EHQA-TQDKJsGejXsBRR0tvkdy5yZwCOQa9w30j9AA7M_15-YjC_p2Cs

https://reims1418.wordpress.com/2016/12/15/video-louis-delozanne-le-dessinateur-du-front/

Richard Caton Woodville Junior, RI (1856 - 1927) - British artist and illustrator

2nd Manchesters capturing a German Battery, April 1917

Richard Caton Woodville Junior, RI (Royal Institute of Oil Painters) (7 January 1856 – 17 August 1927) was a British artist and illustrator and one of the most prolific and effective painters of battle scenes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.   His father was Richard Caton Woodville Senior, who was also an artist. 

Richard Junior studied art in Düsseldorf, Germany, before spending time studying art in Russia and Paris. He worked as an illustrtor for publications - the “Illustrated London News”, where he soon gained a reputation as a talented reporter and writer - and for “Cornhill Magazine”, “The Strand Magazine” and “The Tatler”.

Caton was commissioned to cover the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), and the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War (1882), the Second Boer War (1899 – 1902), and the First World War (1914 – 1919). Richard Jr. wrote some of his memoirs in 1914, entitled WRandom RecollectionsW. He was deeply interested in the army and joined the Royal Berkshire Yeomanry Cavalry in 1879, staying with them until 1914, when he joined the National Reserve as a Captain.

Three of Caton's WW1 paintings went on display at the Royal Academy of Arts in London: The 2nd Batt. Manchester Regiment taking six guns at dawn near St. Quentin, Entry of the 5th Lancers into Mons, and Halloween, 1914 and Stand of the London Scottish on Messines Ridge (London Scottish Regiment Museum Trust), which was exhibited in the year of his death, 1927.

Richard's WW1 paintings were:

The First VC of the European War, (1914 – National Army Museum): Captain Francis Grenfell, 9th Lancers, the first VC of World War I to be gazetted, winning the VC at Audregnies, Belgium, 24th August 1914

The Last Call (Trumpeter falling at Charge of Light Brigade), (1915 – The Queen's Royal Hussars)

The Piper of Loos, (King's Own Scottish Borderers Regimental Association)

The Battle of the Somme, (1917 – Guards Museum)

The 2nd Batt. Manchester Regiment taking six guns at dawn near St. Quentin, (1918 – Duke of Lancaster's Regiment)

Entry of the 5th Lancers into Mons, (1919 – Queen's Royal Lancers)

The Charge of the 9th Lancers at Moncel, 7 September 1914, (1921 – 9th Queen's Royal Lancers)

Halloween, 1914: Stand of the London Scottish on Messines Ridge (1927 – London Scottish Regiment Museum Trust)

Source:  Wikipedia

Colin Gill (1892 - 1940) - British artist

Self Portrait 

Colin Unwin Gill was born in Bexleyheath, south-east London on 12th May 1892, the eldest of three sons born to George Joseph Gill, a civil servant with the Metropolitan Water Board, and his wife Sarah Sharey Gill, nee Driver.

Colin studied art at the Slade Art School in London and in 1913 won a scholarship to the British School in Rome.  He joined the Royal Garrison Artillery as Second Lieutenant in WW1 and served on the Western Front.

Seconded to the Royal Engineers as a Camouflage Officer, he was invalided back to Britain in March 1918 due to gas poisoning.   After recuperation on the Isle of Wight, Colin returned to the Western Front as an official war artist. After the war, he returned to Rome to finish his studies. 

Colin painted murals and portraits but is perhaps best remembered for his WW1 work.  He died in South Africa while working on an assignment on 16th November 1940.

Painting: Gunnery Officers correcting their Battery fire by field telephone from a disused trench in No Man's Land.

Sources:  Wikipedia and "Images of the Great War" by Lawrence Dunn, published by Austin Macaulay Publisher, London, 2015.

Federico Quarenghi or Federigo Quarenghi (1858 - 1940) - Italian artist

"Letter Home" - Alpine soldiers writing letter

Federico Quarenghi or Federigo Quarenghi was born in Milan, Italy on 24th Novcmber1858.

Federico studied at the Brera Academy under Giuseppe Bertini. His style was influenced by Tranquillo Cremona, and was mainly known for his elegant portraits. He exhibited commonly at the Brera, and among his paintings are portraits of Giacobbe Colombo and of the painter Attilio Pusterla.

He died in 1940.

Jennie Margaret Edwards - artist

Portrait of Florence Thorneycroft - Commandant of the Staffordshire Voluntary Aid Detachment during the First World War, wearing a Red Cross nurse's uniform - painted by Jennie Margaret Edwards. 

The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1917.  I am hoping to find further information about the artist.   With thanks to Historian Debbie Cameron for finding this painting.

Adrian Keith Graham Hill (1895 – 1977) - British Artist

Adrian Keith Graham Hill was born in Charlton, London on 24 March 1895.  His parents were Graham and Emma Matilda Hill.  He was educated at Dulwich College and went on to study at the St John's Wood Art School between 1912 and 1914.

When war broke out, Adrian enlisted with the Honourable Artillery Company. Because of his artistic abilities, he was assigned to a Scouting and Sniping Section, whose work often involved operating in front of the Allied trenches to sketch enemy emplacements.   Later in life, he described a typical patrol into no man's land:

"I advanced in short rushes, mostly on my hands and knees with my sketching kit dangling round my neck. As I slowly approached, the wood gradually took a more definite shape, and as I crept nearer I saw that what was hidden from our own line, now revealed itself as a cunningly contrived observation post in one of the battered trees."

Adrian was the first artist to be commissioned by the newly-created Imperial War Museum to record scenes on the Western Front.  Between 1917 and 1919 he made 180 pen-and-ink drawings showing the examples of the devastation in France and Belgium and the work of troops of different nationalities in the trenches.

"Behind Gavrelle" Adrian Hill

After his First World War service, Adrian studied at the Royal College of Art before working as an artist.  In 1938, while convalescing from tuberculosis at the King Edward VII Sanatorium in Midhurst, he passed the time by drawing nearby objects from his hospital bed.  Adrian found that helped his recovery. In 1939, occupational therapy was introduced to the sanatorium for the first time and Ardian was invited to teach drawing and painting to other patients - at first to injured soldiers returning from the war, and then to general civilian patients.  He found that the practice of Art seemed to help to divert the patients and to relieve their mental distress.

Adrian noticed that art appreciation also aided recovery from illness and he became involved with the British Red Cross Society, setting up a scheme whereby reproductions of famous artists' works were lent to hospital wards all over the country. Speakers were also booked to talk to patients about their artworks. By 1950 this picture-lending scheme had spread to nearly 200 hospitals, and there was a waiting list.

The artist Edward Adamson joined the program in 1946 as it was extended to the long-stay mental asylums, and started classes at Netherne Hospital in Surrey.  Adrian apparently coined the term "art therapy" in 1942 and in 1945, he published his ideas in a book entitled "Art Versus Illness".

Eugène Galien-Laloue (1854–1941) - Official French WW1 artist

Eugène Galien-Laloue was a French artist, born in Paris on 11th December 1854.

The Republic of France selected Galien-Laloue to work as a war artist during the Franco-Prussian War and the First World War, chiefly in watercolor but I haven't been able to find any examples of his WW1 paintings.

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (1889 – 1946) - artist

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (1889 – 1946) was the son of the War Correspondent Henry Nevinson.

On the outbreak of the First World War, as he was a pacifist, Christopher refused to become involved in combat duties, and volunteered instead to work for the Red Cross. Posted to the Western Front in November 1914, he worked as a driver, stretcher-bearer and hospital orderly. Christopher returned home in January 1915.

The following month he wrote in “The Daily Express” newspaper: "All artists should go to the front to strengthen their art by a worship of physical and moral courage and a fearless desire of adventure, risk and daring and free themselves from the canker of professors, archaeologists, cicerones, antiquaries and beauty worshippers."

Christopher then joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. On 1st November 1915, he married Kathleen Knowlman at Hampstead Town Hall.  His Mother, Margaret Nevinson later recalled: "My son informed me, suddenly, one evening that, though not engaged, he meant to get married before he was killed." Instead of being sent to France he helped nurse soldiers being treated at the Third General Hospital in London. After contacting rheumatic fever in January, 1916, he was invalided out of the army.

Painting "La Mitrailleuse" by Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson in 1915

Nina Hamnett (1890 – 1956) Welsh artist and writer

Nina Hamnett was born in Shirley House, Picton Road in the coastal town of Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales on 14th February 1890. Her father George Hamnett was an army officer, born in Chennai (formerly Madras), India. Her mother Mary was born in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Nina was sent to a private boarding school at Westgate-on-Sea before moving on to the Royal School for Daughters of Officers of the Army in Bath, Somerset from 1902 to 1905.

Her father was dishonourable discharged from the army and worked as a taxi driver. From 1906 to 1907 Nina studied at the Pelham Art School and then at the London School of Art until 1910.  In 1914 she went to Montparnasse, Paris, France to study at Marie Vassilieff's Academy.

Nina went on to become an accomplished artist and writer, and an expert on sailors' shantys. She became known as the "Queen of Bohemia" for her eccentric behaviour. She was a regular contributor to “The Coterie” Magazine.

Hamnett died on 16th December 1956.

Paintings:

Nina Hamnett painted by Roger Fry (1866 - 1934) in 1917, was wearing a dress designed by Vanessa Bell and made at the Omega Workshops

WW1 painting by Nina Hamnett - Portrait of Major General William Bethune Lindsay by Nina Hamnett - Canadian War Museum

Sources: http://zone47.com/crotos/?p=8&p195=1032442  and Wikipedia

Book Review: "Images of the Great War" by Lawrence Dunn, published by Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd., London, 2015

Lawrence Dunn, an artist from Sunderland, guides us through a brief history of the First World War featuring a selection of images by some of the British and Empire artists, cartoonists, poets, photographers and sculptors of the time -  paintings, drawings, illustrations and photographs, some of which are from the author's own collection. 

With the skill that only an artist has, Lawrence encourages us to have a closer look at some of those works and in so doing brings the conflict to life as never before. In many instances, Lawrence also invites the reader to compare the styles of artists who have painted the same view or person. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.  I already knew some of the names that Lawrence has included but there were many that were new to me.  I was interested to see that Lawrence has dedicated the book to his second cousin, Corporal Michael Davison of the Northumberland Fusiliers (1st Tyneside Irish).  Michael was an underground putter at Ryhope Colliery when he enlisted in 1914 and was killed on the first day of the Battle of Arras - Easter Monday, 9th April 1917.  My great-uncle James Yule was a Private in the Northumberland Fusiliers, 23rd (Tyneside Scottish) Battalion and he too was killed in that Battle on 9th April 1917, as were the British poets R.E. Vernède and Edward Thomas, Walter Lightowler Wilkinson and Canadian poet William Maunsell Scanland  MC, MM.

Beginning with Lady Elizabeth Butler, both male and female WW1 artists of all disciplines are represented in the book - Sir David Muirhead Bone, Francis Edgar Dodd, Sir William Orpen, Charles Sergeant Jagger, Christopher R.W. Nevinson, Paul and John Nash, Bruce Bairnsfather, Arthur Leonard Smith, Wyndham Lewis, David Bomberg, William Patrick Roberts, Colin Unwin Gill, Harold Sandys Williamson, Augustus Edwin John, John Singer Sargent, Henry Tonks, James Francis Hurley OBE, Olive Edis, Eric Henri Kennington, George Clausen, Sir John Lavery, Austin Osman Spare, Gilbert Rogers MBE, Adrian Keith Graham Hill, Sir Jacob Epstein, Mark Gertler, Joyce Dennys, Olive Mudie-Cooke, Flora Lion, Anna Airy, Lucy Kemp-Welch, Norah Neilson-Gray, Clare Atwood, Dorothy Josephine Coke, Frederick Horseman Varley, Stanley Spencer, David Michael Jones, Robert Douglas Strachan.

But this book is not just about the artists and the pictures of WW1, Lawrence goes into detail about some of the battles and includes personal stories about the artists and the areas and subjects depicted.   On page 137 you will find paintings by the artist William Patrick Roberts, who was at the Battle of Arras on 9th April 1917 and is therefore of special interest to me.

Lawrence has also included poems by both male and female poets - Laurence Binyon, Rupert Brooke, Beatrix Brice Miller, Jessie Pope, John McCrae, Lucy Foster Whitmell, Charles Sorley, Alan Seeger, Vera Brittain, Thomas Kettle, Lady Margaret Sackville, Isaac Rosenberg, Siegfried Sassoon, Francis Ledwidge, Wilfred Owen, Robert Graves, Iris Tree, Winifred Mabel Letts, May Wedderburn Cannan, Anna Gordon Keown, Alice Meynell, Katharine Tynan, Elinor Jenkins, Muriel Elsie Graham, Edmund Blunden, May Hershel-Clarke, Mary H.J. Henderson, Eileen Newton, Emily Orr, Dorothy Una Ratcliffe and Edward Thomas.

I also very much enjoyed reading about the photographs taken during the First World War in the section about James Francis Hurley OBE, a photographer from Sydney, Australia.   Lawrence explains that many of the photographs taken during the 1914 - 1919 period were not fake but 'composites', as photographers were still experimenting with the medium and developing the films was a lengthy and complex procedure back then.

With a map of the Western Front showing some of the worst battles of the war, a comprehensive Index and Bibliography and a final poem written by the UK's current Poet Laureate, Dame Carol Ann Duffy, this is a superb book which I would highly recommend.

Lucy London

Gilbert Holiday (1879 - 1937) – British artist

"Brigadier-General Grogan, CMG in action
at Bouleuse Ridge, Aisne, 29 May 1918"

Eddie Bon tells me that the artist who painted the painting  featured on the cover of the Pen & Sword book “Bloody Red Tabs: General Officer Casualties of the Great War 1914 - 1918” by Frank Davies and Graham Maddox was Gilbert Holiday.

Charles Gilbert H. Holiday was born in Paddington, London in January 1879. His parents were Sir Frederick C. Holiday, a Civil Servant, and his wife, Adela M. Holiday, nee Mileham, who was an artist.  Gilbert had the following siblings: Climene M., b. 1875, Mary E. A., b.1881 and Christabel S M., b.1883.  Gilbert was a nephew of the artist and stained glass designer, Henry Holiday.  Educated at Westminster School, Gilbert went on to study art at the Royal Academy Schools.  He then worked as an illustrator for “The Graphic”, “Tatler”, “Illustrated London News” and other magazines.

Gilbert married Mina Spencer from Guernsey in 1908.  When war broke out in 1914, Gilbert initially worked as a war artist for “The Graphic” magazine.  He volunteered to join the Army and was commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery in January 1915 as a Second Lieutenant, serving on the Western Front as a Forward Observation Officer. He was later appointed Reconnaissance Officer.  He drew plans of German positions, often working in No Man’s Land with his sketchbook.  Gilbert fought at the Battles of Arras, Passchendaele and the Third Battle of Ypres.  He left the Army in 1919 with the rank of Lieutenant.

After the war, Gilbert concentrated on painting sporting scenes, especially those involving horses. He illustrated a number of books including the Royal Artillery War Commemoration Book. While hunting with the Woolwich Draghounds in 1932, Gilbert had a bad fall from his horse, resulting in injuries necessitating the use of a wheelchair.  He painted on but died on 8th January 1937 after contracting pneumonia.

Examples of Gilbert’s WW1 paintings: “1st Battalion, The Royal Scots Fusiliers defending Lock No. 2 on the Mons-Conde Canal at Jemappes on 23 August 1914” and “Horse-drawn transport passing the Cloth Hall, Ypres, 1917”.

“Horse-drawn transport passing the Cloth Hall, Ypres, 1917”
by Gilbert Holiday

Gilbert Holiday (1879 - 1937) – British artist - featured in the exhibition WW1 “Aftermath” held in January 2019 at the Wirral Peninsula’s Award Winning Wilfred Owen Story.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/385353788875799/?fref=nf

The title of the paintinhg featured on the cover of "Bloody Red Tabs" is Brigadier-General Grogan, CMG, DSO, GOc, 23rd Infantry Brigade - In action at Bouleuse Ridge on the Aisne, 29th May 1918, for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross."

For further information on the book and other Pen & word military publications, please see their website https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/