From the mundane to the shocking, war artists are in a unique position to document and interpret the impact of conflict from every angle.
Maev Kennedy reviews the many and varied approaches to illustrating mankind’s darkest moments
For generations artists have been commissioned to record the consequences of war around the globe. From poignant portraits of housewives queuing patiently for rations through to the bloody aftermath of a cratered battlefield – the reality of war for civilians and combatants alike is brought into stark focus through the mediums of paint and pencil.
The experiences of artists of World Wars One and Two were strikingly different, the latter working as the world they knew was torn apart not once but for a second time. In the disasters of the ‘war to end all wars’ and the second global conflict that followed barely two decades later, some of the greatest artists of the 20th century– along with many unknowns – gave human perspective to inhuman acts.
Some, like Henry Moore, fought in World War One and became war artists in the second. Others, such as Muirhead Bone, who became the first official artist of World War One, recorded both. There were casualties among them, including Eri…
