Art During The Great War

(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:

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‘Often,’ says a character in one of Sundermann’s novels, ‘Art leads us astray because she has deliberately tried to reflect something quite different from the spirit of her time.’ Many visitors to the Royal Academy and other exhibitions in 1915 and 1916 felt vaguely that the pictures they saw there were leading them astray. Mr Kennington’s picture and the paintings of Mr Nevinson acted on them differently, because these seemed truer to the spirit of the time. The outworn conventions of the older artists seemed powerless to convey an adequate expression of the clash of the world conflict, and possibly it was the general failure of well-known and eminent painters to deal with the War that led the British Government to select a black-and-white artist as the first ‘Official Artist.’ In addition to the useful propaganda work accomplished by poster artists and cartoonists, it was felt that the nation should possess permanent records of typical scenes and episodes in the greatest war the world had ever known. The outcome of this feeling was the appointment in August 1916 of Mr Muirhead Bone as an official artist on the Western Front. The appointment was eminently appropriate, for Mr Bone’s known ability to make memorable designs from scaffolding and the demolition of buildings argued that he was the right man to depict the havoc of war.

Born at Glasgow in 1867, Mr Muirhead Bone came to London in 1901, and was a prominent member of the New English Art Club long before the War. His masterly etchings and drawings of architectural subjects have long been highly prized by connoisseurs. In 1915-16 Mr Bone had devoted much of his time to the interpretation of British war industries, sketching ‘The Building of a Liner’, ‘The Yards on the Clyde,’ and similar subjects. After his new appointment the regular publication in parts, from the Office of Country Life, of reproductions of Mr Bone’s drawings made on the Western Front, opened a new era in the pictorial treatment of the War. Drawings like the ‘Sketch in Albert’ show with what economy and distinction Mr Bone achieved his task of presenting with pictorial dignity and actual truth the aspect of ravaged buildings and wasted landscape. Though Mr Bone’s reputation was made before the War, these portfolios increased his admirers a hundredfold, and the unexpected popularity and wide demand for his books of sketches soon convinced the authorities that there was room and to spare for another official artists.

In April 1917 Mr James McBey, another Scottish artist, born in Aberdeenshire in 1883, who was akin in style to Mr Bone, and also chiefly known for his etchings and drawings, was appointed the Official Artist for Egypt and Palestine. The same month Sir William Orpen, R.A, was sent to France as an official artist. A large collection of the paintings he made there was freely presented by the artist to the nation and may be seen in the Imperial War Museum.

Art During The Great War (continued)