The art of war: the First World War in paintings, photographs, posters and cartoons

By 1916 Britain, Australia and Canada had each established official war art programmes to document their country’s activities in the First World War and to use for propaganda purposes. Muirhead Bone was appointed Britain’s first official war artist in May of that year in an unprecedented act of government sponsorship for the arts. New Zealand lagged behind its allies on this issue because its wartime government considered war art unnecessary and expensive, but in April 1918 Nugent Welch was taken on as New Zealand’s divisional war artist.

Art:
Syndetics book coverArt from the First World War.
“Throughout World War I, the British government employed a diverse group of artists to produce a rich visual record of wartime events. But the art from this important collection often far exceeds this objective, giving voice to both the artist and the soldiers who are depicted. Art from the First World War contains more than fifty images chosen from among the Imperial War Museum’s impressive collection of works by war artists. Art from the First World War features some of the most well-known British artists of the twentieth century, from the brothers John and Paul Nash to William Orpen, Stanley Spencer, and John Singer Sargent, whose Gassed shows a line of wounded soldiers blinded by a mustard gas attack. On the occasion of the centenary, the Imperial War Museum is bringing this book out in a new edition.” (Syndetics summary)

Portraits:
Historically portraits of military leaders were more common then the portraits of the ordinary serviceman. The depictions of other aspects of war such as the suffering of casualties and civilians has taken much longer to develop.

Syndetics book coverThe Great War in portraits / Paul Moorhouse ; with an essay by Sebastian Faulks.
“In viewing the Great War through the portraits of those involved, Paul Moorhouse looks at the bitter-sweet nature of a conflict in which valour and selfless endeavour were qualified by disaster and suffering, and examines the notion of identity – how various individuals associated with the war were represented and perceived.” (Syndetics)

Women artists:
There were no officially commissioned women war artists in the First World War. Women artists were excluded from the front line – the fields of domesticity and social and industrial subjects were considered to be their metier. However women served as nurses, nurse aides and ambulance drivers. Many of them were accomplished informal artists and were able to record their experiences in several mediums.

 

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Left: ‘A Grenadier Guardsman’ by William Orpen, 1917. Right: ‘A bus conductress’ by Victoria Monkhouse, 1919.

Syndetics book coverBeyond the battlefield : women artists of the two World Wars
“World Wars I and II changed the globe on a scale never seen before or since, and from these terrible conflicts came an abundance of photographs, drawings, and other artworks attempting to make sense of the turbulent era. In this generously illustrated book, Catherine Speck provides a fascinating account of women artists during wartime in America, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand and their visual responses to war, both at the front lines and on the home front. In addition to following high-profile artists such as American photographer Lee Miller, Speck recounts the experiences of nurses, voluntary aides, and ambulance drivers who found the time to create astonishing artworks in the midst of the conflict.” (Syndetics)

Posters:
Posters were recognised as a powerful recruiting tool with simple slogans and strong graphic imagery designed to appeal to the working class who fuelled so much of the machinery of war. They were also used to stir up patriotic feeling, influence women to send their menfolk to the front and to take up positions in service, farms and factories. They were also used to justify the war, raise money, procure resources and to promote good standards of behaviour.

Syndetics book coverBritish posters of the First World War
“During the First World War the authorities emulated the simple slogans and strong graphic imagery of advertising posters to create a form of mass communication that was easily and instantly understood by the British public. They were aimed at the mostly illiterate working class who did more than their share to feed the machinery of war. This book looks at the art of these posters and explores the themes that emerged throughout the course of the conflict.” (Syndetics)

Photography:
Photography in the First World War was made possible by earlier developments in chemistry and in the manufacture of glass lenses, established as a practical process from the 1850s onwards.The ability of photographers to document events was limited to what they could literally see at a certain time, while the quality of their work was hampered by the limited manoeuverability of their equipment. War artists had much greater flexibility as documenters of war, particularly in the difficult conditions of the trenches.

Syndetics book coverWorld War I in colour : the definitive illustrated history with over 200 remarkable full colour photographs
“Up to now, World War I has only been seen in black and white. At the time, it was the only way pictures from the front and scenes recreated for the camera could be filmed. Now, for the first time, rare archive footage in black and white from worldwide sources, including Russia, Germany, France, Italy, the USA and the Imperial War Museum, London, has been recast into colour with the greatest care and attention to detail. The results are breathtaking, bringing a remarkable immediacy and poignancy to the war which consumed the lives of 10 million soldiers and civilians.” (Syndetics)

Syndetics book coverImages of war : World War One : a photographic record of New Zealanders at war 1914-1918
“In this photographic collection from the archives of the Waiouru Army Museum, renowned military historian Glyn Harper has selected and annotated the story of Kiwis at the front during the First World War.” (Syndetics)

Cartoons:
For many confronted with the effects or aftermath of the war’s violence, photos were too graphic for daily consumption. Caricatures and cartoons served as a release valve—allowing citizens to make fun of politicians, or the enemy, to offset the dire realities of the day. The period was a high point for illustrated magazines, and cartoons were contemporary commentaries.

Syndetics book coverWorld War I in cartoons
“Using images from a wide variety of international wartime magazines, newspapers, books, postcards, posters and prints, Mark Bryant tells the history of World War I from both sides of the conflict in an immediate and refreshing manner that brings history alive. The book contains more than 300 cartoons and caricatures, in colour and black and white, many of which are published here in book form for the first time. Artists featured include such famous names as Bruce Bairnsfather, H.M.Bateman, F.H.Townshend, Alfred Leete, E.J. Sullivan, Lucien Metivet and Louis Raemaekers, with drawings from the Bystander, London Opinion, Daily Graphic, Punch, Le Rire, Simplicissimus and Kladderadatsch amongst many others.” (Syndetics)

Art and medicine:
Drawings, portraits and photographs were used to help the four pioneering plastic surgeons of the two world wars to reconstruct the faces of disfigured servicemen and civilians.

Syndetics book coverReconstructing faces : the art and wartime surgery of Gillies, Pickerill, McIndoe & Mowlem
“The two world wars played an important role in the evolution of plastic and maxillofacial surgery in the first half of the 20th century. This book is about four of the key figures involved. Sir Harold Gillies and Sir Archibald McIndoe were born in Dunedin; McIndoe and Rainsford Mowlem studied medicine at the University of Otago Medical School, and Henry Pickerill was foundation Dean of the University of Otago Dental School.” (Syndetics)

How the First World War shaped the future of Western art:
The First World War utterly changed the way artists looked at the world. Throughout Western art, the grim realities of industrial warfare led to a backlash against the propaganda and grandiose nationalism that had sparked the conflagration. Cynicism toward the ruling classes and disgust with war planners and profiteers led to demands for art forms that were honest and direct, less embroidered with rhetoric and euphemism.

Syndetics book coverEsprit de corps : the art of the Parisian avant-garde and the First World War, 1914-1925
“In analyzing the changes in modern art between the outbreak of World War I and the Paris Exposition des Arts Dcoratifs of 1925, Kenneth Silver shows that the Parisian avant-garde was deeply involved in French society and its dominant values and relationships. He radically reinterprets masterpieces of modern art, from Matisse and Picasso to Léger and Le Corbusier, demonstrating how their creators all refer, consciously or not, to the Great War and its aftermath.” (Syndetics)

Large scale ANZAC display at the Central Library

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For the past year, in the lead up to the Centenary of the Gallipoli landings, Wellington City librarians have been producing a series of contributions highlighting various aspects of our collection where you can find resources related to this major historical event. Our latest addition, inspired by a recent blog post http://bit.ly/1DNZ48J about Charlotte Le Gallais, one of the nurses who went to Gallipoli on the Maheno hospital ship, is a large scale exhibition about her story, highlighting the various online resources available for history and ancestry research. Come to the Central Library and discover her fascinating story.

You can also contribute your family stories in our “Scrapbook of Memories” kept by the display. For more resources on WW1, browse our series at www.wcl.govt.nz/ww100

 

#WW100: Remembering World War One with Wellington City Libraries

Story of a crime croppedThe New Zealand Government has developed the WW100 programme to mark the First World War centenary. From 2014 to 2018, New Zealanders will be able to attend official state ceremonies and participate in community initiatives and personal projects.
On the eve of this year’s ANZAC day celebrations, Wellington City Libraries’ multi-faceted librarians are launching a series of contributions highlighting various aspects of our collection where you can find resources related to this major historical event.

We hope you enjoy those articles and that you discover some unusual facts with a local flavour, unknown parts of our collection and get to explore our resources further, for your information, education and entertainment.

Did you know for instance that the images used for the newspaper collage above were sourced from one of our many online databases?

Many of you may be already familiar with Papers Past, a database containing more than three million pages of digitised New Zealand newspapers and periodicals from doing family genealogy research. The collection covers the years 1839 to 1945 and includes 83 publications from all regions of New Zealand, including searchable full text of the Evening Post from 1865-1945.

On the second floor of the Central library, you may also find The Dominion and The Evening Post on reel to reel microfilms.Microfilm readers on 2nd floorMicrofilms cabinet drawer

We hold archives of Wellington super-paper The Dominion Post from its inception in 2002 and its well-loved predecessor’s The Dominion from 1907 to 2002, and The Evening Post from 1865 to 2002.

Whether you are doing family history research or a history assignment, these are resources worth investigating. The microfilm readers are available on the 2nd floor of the Central library, by the enquiries desk. A member of staff can show you how to use them.

Finally, did you know that we have an entire room full to the brim with periodicals that you can consult on the second floor of the library by asking a member of staff?

Magazine stacksYou will be brought a box of magazines or newspapers for your perusal.
It is an amazing collection of historical periodicals, among which you can find for example The Illustrated London News.
It was the publication of choice for the Victorian middle classes and revolutionised the use of illustrations as news reporting tools for the first time. It developed a fast and cheap method of using woodcut prints, making it the multimedia of the time.

London Illustrated NewsThese are fragile copies that we keep tucked away for occasional perusal.
You won’t be able to take copies home but you are more than welcome to have a gentle browse at the desk.

Here is a sample from the 4 July 1914 issue, relating to the assassination on June 28, 1914, of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, the event that many consider to have precipitated the First World War.

Front page of The London Illustrated News 4 July 1914 copy

Front page of The London Illustrated News 4 July 1914 copy

Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro Hungarian Emperor, with his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg and their three children.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro Hungarian Emperor, with his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg and their three children.

Double-page spread with photographs of Sarajevo

Double-page spread with photographs of Sarajevo.

What better way to research history than delving into some quality publication of the time?

The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee

Queen Elizabeth II became Queen in 1952, and celebrates her Diamond Jubilee — the 60th anniversary of her accession to the throne — this year, in 2012. (Next year, 2013, will be the 60th anniversary of her Coronation, and of her first visit to New Zealand — on her Commonwealth Tour.)

With celebrations drawing to a close in the United Kingdom, we thought we’d take the opportunity to round up a few books and online resources on her life and the period of her rule. We’ve also included a quick mapping video from the collaborative historical photo-sharing website, Historypin — because we think it’s a neat idea — and the first part of a short film documentary about the Royal Tour to New Zealand (1953-1954), from NZ On Screen. And if you’re fielding homework questions about the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, head over to our Kids’ Blog.

Syndetics book coverQueen Elizabeth II : her life in our times / Sarah Bradford.
“Elizabeth II has lived through the Abdication, the Blitz and World War Two, the sex and spy scandals of the swinging sixties, the Cold War and the nuclear threat and the Fall of the Berlin Wall. She has known 11 US Presidents including JFK and Ronald Reagan, and other world leaders like President Mandela and Pope John XXII. Her Prime Ministers have ranged from Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher to David Cameron, the last only ten years older than her grandson. Her own family experiences, a mixture of happiness and crisis, weddings and divorces, and, in the case of Diana, violent death, have been lived in the glare of tabloid headlines. More than 2 billion people watched the wedding of her grandson Prince William to Catherine Middleton in 2010 shortly before she made the first State Visit to Ireland by a British monarch for 100 years. Our world has changed more in her lifetime than in any of her predecessors’: the Queen has remained a calm presence at the centre, earning the respect of monarchists and republicans. How has she done it?” (Amazon)

Syndetics book coverSixty glorious years : our Queen Elizabeth II – diamond jubilee, 1952-2012 / Victoria Murphy.
“Since Queen Elizabeth II succeeded to the throne sixty years ago Britain has seen huge social, political and economic change. As her people have celebrated the highs and mourned the lows, she has remained a constant and stable figure at the head of the world’s most famous Royal Family. Through 12 Prime Ministers, four recessions, wars and a technological revolution, the Queen’s determination to carry out her duties and to connect with the public has not faltered. Sixty Glorious Years celebrates her extraordinary ability to have secured a place in the hearts of generations of Britons as the country moves further into the 21st Century. With rarely seen pictures, this book offers an unparalleled look at the life and work of the woman who looks set to become Britain’s longest surviving sovereign.” (Amazon)

Syndetics book coverThe queens’ London : the metropolis in the Diamond Jubilee years of Victoria & Elizabeth II / Jon Curry & Hugo Simms.
“In 1897, the UK Commercial Travellers Association commissioned “The Queen’s London”: ‘a pictorial and descriptive record of the Great Metropolis’. The work, a collection of some of the finest photographs of the capital ever taken, was produced to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of her most excellent Majesty Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India. In 2012, when the eyes of the world will be on London, “The Queens’ London” brings this story up to date. Pairing these beautifully captured vintage views with 180 images taken from identical vantage points in the London of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, it gives the reader a fascinating perspective on the history behind London’s familiar streets. Richly illustrated with colour and with black and white, this stunning collection will delight Londoners and visitors alike.” (Amazon)

Syndetics book coverDiamond Queen : Elizabeth II and her people / Andrew Marr.
“With the flair for narrative and the meticulous research that readers have come to expect, Andrew Marr turns his attention to the monarch and to the monarchy, chronicling the Queen’s pivotal role at the centre of the state, which is largely hidden from the public gaze, and making a strong case for the institution itself. Arranged thematically, rather than chronologically, Marr dissects the Queen’s political relationships, crucially those with her Prime Ministers; he examines her role as Head of the Commonwealth, and her deep commitment to that Commonwealth of nations; he looks at the drastic changes in the media since her accession in 1952 and how the monarchy and the monarch have had to change and adapt as a result. Indeed he argues that under her watchful eye, the monarchy has been thoroughly modernized and made as fit for purpose in the twenty-first century as it was when she came to the throne and a ‘new Elizabethan age’ was ushered in.” (Amazon)

The Queen has visited New Zealand 10 times — the first time as part of her Commonwealth Tour after her coronation in 1953, and the most recent time in 2002, as part of the commemoration of her 50th Jubilee.

The Royal Tour of New Zealand 1953 - 54

Historypin — a collaborative photo and mapping history site — has created a video of the mapped photo contributions of its users for the Queen’s Commonwealth Tour:

You can see more photos from the Queen’s Commonwealth Tour (1953-1954) on Historypin — and you can even view photos starting from when the Queen arrived in Auckland in 1953. There’s also a wealth of photos and video on NZHistory’s Royal Visit of 1953-54 media gallery, and more information in the main article on NZHistory.

And — from our databases — you can view original artices from The Times (London) from the week of the Coronation in 1953. Here’s a sample (you’ll need to log in with your library card details to view):

Declaration Of Accession.” Times [London, England] 8 Feb. 1952: 6. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 5 June 2012.

The Queen Crowned At Westminster.” Times [London, England] 3 June 1953: 12. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 5 June 2012.