Witness: Canadian Art of the First World War

About the Exhibition

Artists: Cyril Barraud (1977–1965), Alfred Bastien (1873–1955), William Beatty (1869–1941), Alan Beddoe (1873–1975), R. Caton Woodville (1856–1927), S. Chatwood Burton (1881–1947), Douglas Culham (1886–?), Maurice Cullen (1866–1934), Kenneth Forbes (1892–1980), Ernest Fosbery (1874–1960), William Howchin (1888–?), Herbert Hughes–Stanton (1870–1937), A. Y. Jackson (1882–1974), August John (1878–1961), Frank Johnston (1888–1949), Arthur Keelor (1890–1953), Arthur Lismer (1885–1969), Henrietta Mabel May (1877–1971), Henry Masterman Mist (1871–1954), Innes Meo (1886–1967), David Milne (1882–1953), Frank Nicolet (1861–1933), Albert Robinson (1881–1956), Gyrth Russell (1892–1970), Daniel Sherrin (1969–1940), Charles Simpson (1978–1942), Dorothy Stevens (1888–1966), Algernon Talmage (1871–1939), William Topham (1888–1966), Frederick Varley (1881–1969), Homer Watson (1855–1936).

One hundred years ago, the art of Canadian painters and soldiers helped bring the First World War home to Canada. Today, these works continue to help us understand and appreciate the unprecedented contribution and sacrifice our country made between 1914 and 1918.

A surprising number of artists and soldiers drew and painted as members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War. They created art because they wanted current and future generations of Canadians to know about their experiences. Much of their subject matter was new to them: soldiers, battlefields, ruins, tanks and guns.

Art was made on the battlefield; in factories and shipyards as well as on training grounds on the home front; and in artists’ studios in Canada and England. Some official war artists, commissioned and supported by Lord Beaverbrook’s Canadian War Memorials Fund, produced large canvases. Others captured the sights they saw on small sheets of paper they could send home to their families. Many artists created posters and prints for public consumption.

The final tally of artworks produced is unknown. This exhibition features only a small selection of the Canadian War Museum’s approximately 2,500 works from the First World War.

Image credits
1: Arthur Lismer, Olympic with Returned Soldiers, 1919, oil on canvas, 123.0 cm x 163.3 cm. Beaverbrook Collection of War Art, Canadian War Museu, Ottawa, ON 19710261-0343
2–4, 6–7: Installation views of Witness: Canadian Art of the First World War, Varley Art Gallery of Markham, 2018. Photos: Anil Mungal
5: F. H. Varley, The Sunken Road, 1919, oil on canvas, 132.7 cm x 162.7 cm. Beaverbrook Collection of War Art, Canadian War Museu, Ottawa, ON 19710261-0771