Photo Gallery A Snapshot of War Art History Confederation Centre Virtual Tour

The power of art and the spoken word became a shared experience for four classrooms of students when they were recently invited to participate in a learning event. The tour involved two war art exhibits and an animated discussion with Veterans from the Second World War and Peacekeeping. This learning event was a joint initiative of Veterans Affairs Canada and the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. The two war art exhibits are on display in the gallery at the Confederation Centre of the Arts: (1) Somalia Yellow, a contemporary collection depicting the 1993 peacekeeping mission, by Allan Harding-MacKay and (2) Battlelines: Canadian Artists in the Field, 1917-1919, a collection by First World War artists, on a loan from the Canadian War Museum.

On the day of the tour, students were greeted by a volunteer art educator, who set the scene for the exhibits by engaging the group in a short lesson on how to view art, how to identify specific symbolism, colour usage, perspective and gallery etiquette. The students learned that artists create different messages by using elements of visual language; line and texture, shape, form, space and colour. The use of colours such as purples, greys and browns, for example, evoke dark, ominous and sad emotions. Trees became a symbolic portrayal of survival and hope in an otherwise sombre landscape.

The first exhibit the students saw was the contemporary collection, Somalia Yellow, the work of artist Allan Harding MacKay. In 1993, MacKay travelled to East Africa as an official military artist with the Canadian contingent of the United Nations' humanitarian mission to depict the activities of Canadian Forces participating in the mission.

Allan MacKay recorded his experience with both a video and a 35-millimetre still camera as well as the regular sketchbook and canvas of previous military artists. He then uses all of those mediums by fusing photographs, fragments of drawings, and video stills, to create a series of collages. Allan MacKay's work depicts the contrast of a military presence with everyday life in Somalia and its backdrop of intense heat, dust, desolation and violence.

The second exhibit takes the students back to the beginning of the official recording of Canadian war history through art in a collection of paintings done by First World War artists. The paintings are part of the Canadian War Museum collection and include such greats as A.Y. Jackson, Maurice Cullen, and Arthur Lismer. The oils and sketches depict the dismal reality of the times with their broad strokes and bleak colours; a portrayal of the grim reality for many veterans of the war.

At the end of the tour, the students were brought to an area of the gallery where the guest Veterans were seated. The students sat on the floor and posed their questions to the Veterans. After viewing the war exhibits, the discussion came naturally. The students were eager to hear how the Veterans' personal canvas of war experience was painted. A Second World War Veteran explained how viewing the exhibits brought back memories for him. Even though the Canadian War Museum pieces are from the First World War, the landscapes and building architecture took him back to his time in Europe. Most of the Veteran guests agreed when asked what they would paint if they were war artists: the people who are affected by war, the innocents whose landscapes become the backdrop of the visual recordings of war.

A Snapshot of War Art History

Officially recording war through painting had its beginnings during the First World War. In 1916, Lord Beaverbrook initiated and personally oversaw a project through the Canadian War Records Office, to record the war from a Canadian perspective. The war art created through this project (6,000 oils, water colours, drawings and bronzes) was known as the Canadian War Memorials Collection.

The Canadian War Art Program was the most ambitious of any country. Canadian painters were officially commissioned and included well-known artists of the time such as Maurice Cullen. Four painters of the First World War, A.Y. Jackson, Frederick Varley, Arthur Lismer and Franz Johnson, would go on to form the Group of Seven in 1920.

Depending on the artists' reputation and skills, they would be either asked to create large, oversized works to be hung in the Parliament buildings in Ottawa or were sent overseas to spend time on the battlefields to make sketches for future pieces. Although artists were expected to produce an accurate record and frequently ordered to paint certain subjects, they did enjoy great freedom of subject and interpretation.

Major C.P. Stacey, the Canadian Army's historical officer in London, got the army's art program going in 1940, during the Second World War, but it was slow going. Most of the paintings of the early years of the war were of training exercises in Great Britain. The program was not officially reactivated until 1943, when Prime Minister Mackenzie King agreed to the employment of war artists.

A committee consisting of H.O. McCurry, director of the National Gallery, and senior military personnel from the army, air force and navy ran the program in Canada and selected artists. Thirty-one officers were given rank, pay, supplies and instructions. They were divided evenly among the three services. Molly Lamb Bobak, Pegi Nicol MacLeod and Paraskeva Clark painted women in the forces.

The Second World War art program was as successful as the Canadian War Memorials. In 1946, the Canadian War Records were deposited with the National Art Gallery as was the case with the war art from the First World War. In 1971, both collections were transferred to the Canadian War Museum, where they remain.

In the Canadian War Museum's Canvas of War, author Dean F. Oliver writes of the Canadian war art programs, "...the paintings powerfully commemorate the conflicts from the perspective of those who witnessed them. Although to a certain extent the paintings illustrate the war's events, the works also convey the feelings of those who were there. This personal experience of war is perhaps, as those who recall the wars die, the art's programs' most important legacy." (Canvas of War. Canadian War Museum. 2000)

After 20 years, the Canadian Armed Forces created the Civilian Artists Program in 1968. The program had the same aim as previous war art projects, but allowed civilian artists to work alongside Canadian soldiers on both domestic and foreign operations. The program was cancelled in 1995, due to a lack of funds. However, the need for Canada to record the actions of its military members was not forgotten. On June 6, 2001, Chief of Defence Staff, General Maurice Baril, officially announced the creation of the Canadian Forces Artists Program. This new artistic endeavor would allow Canadian artists the opportunity to record Canada's soldiers in Canada and around the world. It is hoped that these artists, all volunteers, will help usher in a new era of Canadian military art.