Sunday WW1 Remembered..

 

 Gassed by John Singer Sergeant
© IWM (Art.IWM ART 1460)

I recently visited this poignant WW1 Exhibition at IWM North 

Iconic paintings from WW1 are on display including two of my favourites. I first saw The Menin Road when I visited the Imperial War Museum on a school trip to London in the 1970s. This iconic painting left a memorable impression and is still an evocative reminder of the devastation left behind by the fighting on the Western Front.

The Menin Road by Paul Nash (1919)

Nash was commissioned by the British War Memorials Committee to paint a battlefield scene for the proposed national Hall of Remembrance (which was never built!) The painting is considered one of the most iconic images of the First World War and is held by the Imperial War Museum (wikipedia)

© Digital Images

Gassed by John Singer Sergeant (1918)

© Digital Images

Gassed is a very large oil painting completed in March 1919 by John Singer Sargent. It depicts the aftermath of a mustard gas attack during the First World War, with a line of wounded soldiers walking towards a dressing station. Sargent was commissioned by the British War Memorials Committee to document the war and visited the Western Front in July 1918 spending time with the Guards Division near Arras, and then with the American Expeditionary Forces near Ypres (wikipedia)

If you are in the North West this exhibition is well worth a visit

There are lots of WW1 ephemera,exhibitions and installations which explore the effect of the First World War, including a poignant reminder of the preparations for the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior

Until 24 February 2019

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