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The big picture: Images of WWI
Conrad Astley23/ 2/2006
A COLLECTION of paintings has arrived in Manchester 87 years too
late.
The exhibition features the work of soldiers who experienced the
horrors of life in the First World War trenches, along with
extracts from diaries.
Although a handful of the pieces were exhibited in Manchester Art
Gallery in 1920, they have never returned to the city, and most
have never been seen outside of London.
Many were shown in an exhibition at the capital's Imperial War
Museum - established in 1917 to record the experiences of British
and Commonwealth people during the "Great War" and subsequent
conflicts - but have been held in archives ever since.
When organisers began looking through the collection to arrange a
new exhibition for the Imperial War Museum North, they discovered a
letter dated January 22 1920.
The letter was written by a Mancunian who had visited the London
collection - then held at the Royal Society - and had been so
impressed with the exhibition he contacted the Manchester Guardian
calling for it to come up north.
The letter read: "What about the possibility of a selection of
pictures going to Manchester now? Do you see any chance?"
The exhibition features 50 works from the collection, including
pieces of sculpture and drawings by official war artists -
commissioned by the government to record the conflict at a time
before the days of television news.
There are also internationally renowned paintings such as We Are
Making A New World by Paul Nash and A Battery Shelled by Percy
Wyndham Lewis.
They are exhibited along with lesser known pieces such as and Eric
Kennington's Gassed And Wounded.
The exhibition, entitled Witness: Highlights of First World War
Art, shows how the conflict also affected civilians, particularly
women, as the experiences of factory workers and nurses are also
recorded.
One of the pieces which has never been displayed outside of London
is a painting of a munitions factory in Openshaw by a female
official war artist called Anna Airy, which will be exhibited along
with Women's Canteen At Phoenix Works, Bradford by Flora
Lion.
Witness: Highlights of First World War Art runs at the
Imperial War Museum North in Trafford until April 23.
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