Issue 224 of SOCIALIST REVIEW Published November 1998 Copyright © Socialist Review
Marking the 80th anniversary of the armistice, this exhibition at the Imperial War Museum looks at the nature of remembrance--both official and personal. There are the inevitable records of glorification, including sketches for the cenotaph and commemorative art. But also included are much more critical paintings by official war artists John and Paul Nash, two powerful and frightening works by Rouault and 'Path of Glory' by C Nevinson--another official war artist who was forbidden to show his painting as it depicted dead British soldiers and, in protest, pasted a brown paper sign saying 'censored' over the canvas and resubmitted it for exhibiting
Cinema and theatre posters of the time illustrate media propaganda about the war, but by far the most touching and painful exhibits are eight boxes containing the personal effects and case histories of men who fought.
Although anger at the slaughter is not the main emphasis here, it seeps through in the letters and telegrams, in the caricature dolls of Lloyd George made by soldiers in hospital and, most overtly, in the original copies of poems by Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon and Isaac Rosenberg.
Though small, the exhibition is affecting rather than mawkish and for the most part avoids jingoism. If you can, try to visit the museum's permanent exhibit on the First World War alongside this. The Imperial War Museum is also holding a series of talks on the impact of the war on modern art, war poetry, and the Christmas truce. Well worth a visit.
Megan Trudell
The First World War Remembered is at the Imperial War Museum, London until 28 December