Earl of Berkhamsted Posted 21 August , 2009 Share Posted 21 August , 2009 Without running the risk of knowing if this topic has arisen before, I would like to propose an open question to all members who care enough about art to comment on: "My favourite Great War painting is _____________ , because____________ ." The floor is open. I hope you have lots of favourites. Please nail your picture on to this post... Regards, EoB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earl of Berkhamsted Posted 21 August , 2009 Author Share Posted 21 August , 2009 I'll kick it off with this chap: My favourite Great War painting is "Operating in a regimental aid post" by Austin Spare, because it quite simply captures the horror. Spare was a genius. Regards, EoB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
armidale Posted 21 August , 2009 Share Posted 21 August , 2009 http://cas.awm.gov.au/PROD/ump.retrieve_um...&parm2=2000 'Menin Gate at midnight' was painted by Will Longstaff to commemorate those soldiers with no marked graves on the Western Front during the First World War. Longstaff attended a ceremony dedicating the Menin Gate memorial to the soldiers of the British empire forces, just outside the town of Ypres, Belgium, on 24 July 1927. The memorial was dedicated to the 350,000 men of the British and Empire forces who had died in battles around Ypres, and bears the names of 55,000 men with no known grave, over 6,000 of whom were Australians. Longstaff was profoundly moved by what he witnessed and that night, unable to sleep, Longstaff returned to Menin Road and later claimed to have had a vision of spirits of the dead rising out of the soil around him. On returning to his studio in London he painted 'Menin Gate at midnight' in a single session. Today 'Menin Gate at midnight' has achieved the status of a national icon, and it remains on permanent display in the Memorial. The painting retains its ability to provoke an emotional response and to communicate the scale of the loss of life and the devastation of war. However as people now have a very different understanding of war, the painting serves a slightly different function. Whereas in the past people responded to the painting as it related to the loss of a loved one and their own personal grief, now the painting communicates the loss experienced by a whole generation. The vast number of those who were killed, and the immensity of the damage wrought during the First World War, requires that those who sacrificed their lives should not be forgotten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirrel Posted 21 August , 2009 Share Posted 21 August , 2009 Kennington's sketch of the Scottish soldier lighting a cigarette that hangs in the hall at Talbot House Poperinghe, closely followed by the sketch at the foot of the stairs of Plumer and a private soldier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wesley Posted 21 August , 2009 Share Posted 21 August , 2009 ‘Gassed’ by John Singer Sargent There’s something amazing about the light in this painting. And the detail…the way the third man in line is overestimating the height of the step he has obviously been warned about, and the football match that is being played in the background. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Foster Posted 21 August , 2009 Share Posted 21 August , 2009 I have a large number of favourites . This painting being one them Eric Kennington's Gassed & Wounded Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluedog Posted 21 August , 2009 Share Posted 21 August , 2009 Besides "Menin Gate At Midnight" my favourite painting has to be "The Landing" featuring Australians at Anzac Cove By George Lambert Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimCatherall Posted 21 August , 2009 Share Posted 21 August , 2009 I have loads of favourites!! It depends on what I've been reading/studying at the time really. However one of my all time favourites has to be Paul Nash The Menin Road - for me it just symbolizes the industrial scale destruction with the two tiny figures moving across a lunar landscape. http://www.art-ww1.com/gb/present.html - good site of WW1 art. Also a big fan of Charles Sargeant Jagger sculptures... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earl of Berkhamsted Posted 21 August , 2009 Author Share Posted 21 August , 2009 This is proving to be a great topic - thanks guys. Another favourite painting is Kennington's "Kensingtons at Lavantie", reverse painting on glass - a masterpiece of genius, you can feel their fatigue. Worth the trip to see it in the flesh at the IWM - you won't be disappointed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
armidale Posted 21 August , 2009 Share Posted 21 August , 2009 Besides "Menin Gate At Midnight" my favourite painting has to be "The Landing" featuring Australians at Anzac Cove By George Lambert Peter http://cas.awm.gov.au/PROD/ump.retrieve_um...&parm2=2000 Australian troops climbing a steep, rocky hillside at Gallipoli, the terrain prohibitive. Many of the soldiers are dead, or falling, and there are puffs of gun smoke in the sky. A narrow beach with two landing boats can be seen in the lower left of the image. The commission for this picture was placed in London but Lambert was not able to complete the painting until he returned to Australia. The Memorial paid 500 pounds for the painting. The colour sketch for 'Anzac, the landing' is held by the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales. Drawings of figures for the composition are held by the Australian War Memorial. On 25 April 1915 Australian troops forged ashore. An initial error in landing them a mile too far north confronted them with steep, scrub-covered and defended heights, different from the gentle sopes which they had been briefed to expect. The crucial decision to advance was made and the troops climbed the precipitous heights of Ari Burnu, hauling themselves upwards by their rifle butts and the roots and stems of bushes, while Turkish fire rained down on them. The initial assault continued as daylight came., battlefield, casualties, corpses; 1st Australian Imperial Force, 3rd Brigade, Turkish Army; Australians landing at Anzac at dawn, climbing hills to go inland, ship's boats on beach, dead and wounded Australians and one dead Turkish soldier, ascending ridge to Plugge's Plateau, The Sphinx, Walker's Ridge and Baby 700 on skyline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bantamforgot Posted 21 August , 2009 Share Posted 21 August , 2009 For me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulgranger Posted 21 August , 2009 Share Posted 21 August , 2009 For me Excellent choice, though it makes me well up. All of Matania's paintings are first class, but my favourite has already been nominated, 'Gassed' by John Singer Sergeant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinWills Posted 21 August , 2009 Share Posted 21 August , 2009 I greatly admire Gassed - everytime I look at it I see even more in the background (eg the dogfights) but I keep coming back to "The Kensingtons at Laventie" because I keep finding even more detail and character in it. Then ther is the simplicity of Keith Henderson's amazing shell bursts. Why, though, stick to paintings, what about drawings and the like (he says being a big Nevinson fan......) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue Light Posted 21 August , 2009 Share Posted 21 August , 2009 There are so many wonderful wartime images, and such variety. This is one of my favourites - not nurses, but merely women 'at work' in the War Hospital Supply Depot at Gerrard's Cross (artist Barnard Davis). This was going on nationwide, and suprising to think that they dressed so perfectly to sew, roll bandages and pack supplies. Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMannus Posted 21 August , 2009 Share Posted 21 August , 2009 For me David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archangel9 Posted 21 August , 2009 Share Posted 21 August , 2009 My knowledge of art and artists is unfortunately nil!! Please keep this topic going. Fantastic!! Cheers John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Murphy Posted 21 August , 2009 Share Posted 21 August , 2009 Gassed gets my vote because it was one of the first WW1 paintings I remember seeing and it has also struck me as, oddly, so alive. EoB, Many thanks and congratulations for this starting this brilliant thread. All of the paintings posted are extremely poignant and evocative. I'll be looking forward to the contributions to this thread with great interest! Ian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFayers Posted 21 August , 2009 Share Posted 21 August , 2009 Great choices so far Pals! For a long time I've much admired both Paul and John Nash's Great War artworks, and I'm afraid for me picking a 'favourite' is nigh on impossible. However, I'd like to mention Paul Nash's A howitzer firing as this always makes me think of my grandfather and his experiences in a 6" howitzer battery during the war: In memory of George James (Jim) Fayers who served as Gunner 86289 in 5 Siege Battery, RGA from March 1917 to March 1919. Kind regards Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 21 August , 2009 Share Posted 21 August , 2009 Not, perhaps, the greatest painting to come out of the Great War, but as a link to later European works, I'd like to propose Christopher Nevinson's "La Mitrailleuse" [The Machine Gun]: Also, although I don't have images to illustrate them, the works of the French sculptor (and subject of Ken Russell's "Savage Messiah") Henri Gaudier Brzeska, and the German artist Georg Grosz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunboat Posted 22 August , 2009 Share Posted 22 August , 2009 This is proving to be a great topic - thanks guys. Another favourite painting is Kennington's "Kensingtons at Lavantie", reverse painting on glass - a masterpiece of genius, you can feel their fatigue. Worth the trip to see it in the flesh at the IWM - you won't be disappointed This is the first time I have seen this this painting. There something about it that leaves me with an impression of the representations of crusaders you sometimes find on stained glass in english churches...the small head on an elongated body and the balaclava helmet somewhat like a mail coif. I don't know if that was the intention of the artist but thats what occurred to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earl of Berkhamsted Posted 22 August , 2009 Author Share Posted 22 August , 2009 This is the first time I have seen this this painting. There something about it that leaves me with an impression of the representations of crusaders you sometimes find on stained glass in english churches...the small head on an elongated body and the balaclava helmet somewhat like a mail coif. I don't know if that was the intention of the artist but thats what occurred to me. Incredible Gunboat! This painting was 'reverse painted' on glass! I find it remarkable that the painting invokes that 'stained glass' / crusades iconography for you. I have never noticed this link, but as you say, particularly with the metal coif effect of the balaclava, I have to agree with you - the whole piece sings it. The actual image is huge, and the use of glass gives the paint a liquid feel. Kennington painted the first layers on the back of the glass and worked up the layers - the effect is amazing, the finished surface is of course cause, quite literally, as smooth as glass. Genius. A must to see it in the flesh. IWM. Regards, EoB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earl of Berkhamsted Posted 22 August , 2009 Author Share Posted 22 August , 2009 Another favourite - who could leave out the classic Alfred Leete poster artwork. I will stick my neck out and say that is one of the most imitated icons of the 20th century. Regards, EoB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earl of Berkhamsted Posted 22 August , 2009 Author Share Posted 22 August , 2009 More favourites - an incredible piece from the talented hand of Sir William Orpen, 'Zonnebke' The artist has captured the atmospheric lighting in such a way that you almost feel you are there, wet, cold and in the stench with the rest of the poor *******s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earl of Berkhamsted Posted 22 August , 2009 Author Share Posted 22 August , 2009 Why, though, stick to paintings, what about drawings and the like (he says being a big Nevinson fan......) Drawings too! Here's a delicately executed Nevinson for you: Regards, EoB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Wilson Posted 22 August , 2009 Share Posted 22 August , 2009 An original water colour caricature as signed by C.Hunt dated 1918: the inscription reads: General Sir Wm.Robertson, GCB, KCVO, DSO, Col. 2nd Dns, ADC to the King General Officer Commanding Eastern Command (Late Chief of the Imperial General Staff) 1918. Robertson was Quartermaster General to the B.E.F (Iron Ration) in 1914 and later became Field Marshal Sir William Robertson GCB, GCMG, GCVO, DSO (1860-1933) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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