Talk - Art, Society, and War in Europe, 1914 - 1945

Art and war are perennial partners. Be their narrative celebratory, as in Delacroix’s triumphal portrayal of ‘Liberty Guiding the People’ in 1830s France; heroic in defeat, as in the Elizabeth Thompson depiction of Dr Brydon’s epic journey to safety during the retreat from Kabul (1842); or condemnatory, as in Picasso’s 1937 ‘Guernica’, art has told the story of conflict in ways that words alone could never do.

In his talk, Dr Whitfield will consider the ways in which art was used by belligerent European nations in the two world wars of the Twentieth Century, with reference to the work of artists such as Paul Nash, Christopher Nevinson, Laura Knight, Henry Moore, and Otto Dix. During the Second World War, women artists played a more significant part than in the First, and this aspect of the ‘Home Front’ war effort was more prominently featured. Examples will be shown and discussed.

Some years ago, Dr Whitfield undertook extensive research of the correspondence archive of Sir Kenneth Clark, the Director of the National Gallery from 1934 to 1945. Much of this research has not previously been published. Selected items from the research relating to the National Gallery and its collection will form the basis of his talk.