The
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, which was fought between 1914 and 1918, had an immediate impact on
popular culture
Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...
. In over the hundred years since the war ended, the war has resulted in many artistic and cultural works from all sides and nations that participated in the war. This included artworks, books, poems, films, television, music, and more recently, video games. Many of these pieces were created by soldiers who took part in the war.
Art
The years of warfare were the backdrop for art which is now preserved and displayed in such institutions as the
Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...
in London, the
Canadian War Museum
The Canadian War Museum (french: link=no, Musée canadien de la guerre; CWM) is a national museum on the country's military history in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The museum serves as both an educational facility on Canadian military history, in a ...
in Ottawa, and the
Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia and some conflicts involving pe ...
in Canberra. Official
war artists were commissioned by the British Ministry of Information and the authorities of other countries.
After 1914, avant-garde artists began to consider and investigate many things that had once seemed unimaginable. As
Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...
later remarked, "The war was another plastic work that totally absorbed us, which reformed our forms, destroyed the lines, and gave a new look to the universe." In this same period, academic and realist artists continued to produce new work. Traditional artists and their artwork developed side by side with the shock of the new as culture reinvented itself in relationships with new technologies.
Some artists responded positively to the changes wrought by war.
C. R. W. Nevinson
Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (13 August 1889 – 7 October 1946) was an English figure and landscape painter, etcher and lithographer, who was one of the most famous war artists of World War I. He is often referred to by his initial ...
, associated with the
Futurists
Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...
, wrote that "This war will be a violent incentive to Futurism, for we believe there is no beauty except in strife, and no masterpiece without aggressiveness."
[''British Art Since 1900'', Frances Spaulding, 1986 ] His fellow artist
Walter Sickert
Walter Richard Sickert (31 May 1860 – 22 January 1942) was a German-born British painter and printmaker who was a member of the Camden Town Group of Post-Impressionist artists in early 20th-century London. He was an important influence on d ...
wrote that Nevinson's painting ''
La Mitrailleuse
''La Mitrailleuse'' is a painting by British Futurist artist Christopher Nevinson, made in 1915 while he was on honeymoon leave from service as an ambulance driver with the RAMC on the Western Front in the First World War. In an article in ''T ...
'' (now in the
Tate
Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
collection) 'will probably remain the most authoritative and concentrated utterance on the war in the history of painting.'
Pacifist artists also responded to the war in powerful ways:
Mark Gertler's major painting, ''
Merry-Go-Round
A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (List of sovereign states, international), roundabout (British English), or hurdy-gurdy (an old term in Australian English, in South Australia, SA) is a type of amusement ...
'', was created in the midst of the war years and was described by
D. H. Lawrence
David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...
as "the best modern picture I have seen" and depicts the war as a futile and mechanistic nightmare.
The commissions related to the official war artists programmes insisted on the recording of scenes of war. This undermined confidence in progressive styles as commissioned artists conformed to official requirements. The inhumanity of destruction across Europe also led artists to question whether their own campaigns of destruction against tradition had not, in fact, also been inhuman. These tendencies encouraged many artists to "return to order" stylistically.
The
Cubist
Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
vocabulary itself was adapted and modified by the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
during "the Great War." The Cubists aimed to revolutionize painting — and reinvented the art of camouflage on the way.
[Glover, Michael]
"Now you see it... Now you don't,"
''The Times.'' March 10, 2007.
British marine painter
Norman Wilkinson invented the concept of
"dazzle painting" -— a way of using stripes and disrupted lines to confuse the enemy about the speed and dimensions of a ship. Wilkinson, then a lieutenant commander on
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
patrol duty, implemented the precursor of "dazzle" on SS ''Industry''; and in August 1917 HMS ''Alsatian'' became the first Navy ship to be painted with a dazzle pattern.
Solomon J. Solomon
Solomon Joseph Solomon (16 September 1860 – 27 July 1927) was a British painter, a founding member of the New English Art Club and member of the Royal Academy.
Solomon's family was Jewish, and his sister, Lily Delissa Joseph (née So ...
advised the British Army on camouflage. In December 1916 he established a camouflage school in
Hyde Park
Hyde Park may refer to:
Places
England
* Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London
* Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds
* Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield
* Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester
Austra ...
In 1920, he published a book on the subject, ''Strategic Camouflage''.
Alan Beeton
Alan Beeton (born 4 October 1978) is an English former footballer who played in the Football League for Wycombe Wanderers
Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wyco ...
advanced the science of camouflage.
[''The Influence of the War on art'', Frank Rutter, in ''The Great War'', ed. H.W. Wilson & J.A. Hammerton, London 1919]
An early influence of the War on artists in the United Kingdom was the recruiting campaign of 1914–1915. Around a hundred posters were commissioned from artists by the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee of which two and a half million copies were distributed across the country. Private companies also sponsored recruitment posters: ''Remember Belgium'', by the Belgian-born
Frank Brangwyn
Sir Frank William Brangwyn (12 May 1867 – 11 June 1956) was a Welsh artist, painter, watercolourist, printmaker, illustrator, and designer.
Brangwyn was an artistic jack-of-all-trades. As well as paintings and drawings, he produced des ...
and ''The Only Road for an Englishman'' by
Gerald Spencer Pryse
Gerald Spencer Pryse (1882–1956) was a British artist and lithographer.
Biography
Born at Ashton, Pryse studied in London and Paris, and first won a prize at the Venice International Exhibition in 1907. In the same year, he joined the Fabian ...
were two notable examples produced on behalf of the London Electric Railways. Although Brangwyn produced over 80 poster designs during the War, he was not an official war artist. His grim poster of a Tommy bayoneting an enemy soldier (“Put Strength in the Final Blow: Buy War Bonds”) caused deep offence in both Britain and Germany. The Kaiser himself is said to have put a price on Brangwyn's head after seeing the image.
Brangwyn states in 1917 that
Will Dyson
William Henry Dyson (3 September 1880 – 21 January 1938) was an Australian illustrator and political cartoonist.
In 1931 he was regarded as "one of the world's foremost black and white artists", and in 1980, "Australia's greatest cartoonist" ...
's cartoons were "an international asset to this present war." His exhibition of "War Satires" in 1915 was followed by him being appointed an
Australian official war artist.
The
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
The Summer Exhibition is an open art exhibition held annually by the Royal Academy in Burlington House, Piccadilly in central London, England, during the months of June, July, and August. The exhibition includes paintings, prints, drawings, sc ...
of 1915 was noted for the paucity and general poor quality of paintings on war themes, but ''The Fighting-Line from Ypres to the Sea'' by
W. L. Wyllie was noted for its bold experimentation in showing a bird's-eye view of war from an aeroplane.
George Clausen
Sir George Clausen (18 April 1852 – 22 November 1944) was a British artist working in oil and watercolour, etching, mezzotint, dry point and occasionally lithographs. He was knighted in 1927.
Biography
George Clausen was born at 8 William S ...
's symbolist allegory ''Renaissance'' was the most memorable painting of that 1915 exhibition, contrasting ruins and oppression with dignity and optimism. When exhibited in the spring of 1916,
Eric Kennington
Eric Henri Kennington (12 March 1888 – 13 April 1960) was an English sculptor, artist and illustrator, and an official war artist in both World Wars.
As a war artist, Kennington specialised in depictions of the daily hardships endured by s ...
's portrayal of exhausted soldiers ''
The Kensingtons at Laventie
''The Kensingtons at Laventie'' is a large oil painting on glass by Eric Kennington completed in 1915 that depicts a First World War platoon of British troops. The group depicted was Kennington's own infantry platoon; Platoon No 7, C Company, th ...
'' caused a sensation.
Painted in reverse on glass, the painting was widely praised for its technical virtuosity, iconic colour scheme, and its ‘stately presentation of human endurance, of the quiet heroism of the rank and file’. Kennington returned to the front in 1917 as an
official war artist.
The general failure of academic painting, in the form of the Royal Academy, to respond adequately to the challenges of representing the War was made clear by reaction to the 1916 Summer Exhibition. Although popular taste acclaimed Richard Jack's sentimental ''Return to the Front: Victoria Railway Station, 1916'', the academicians and their followers were stuck in the imagery of past battle pictures of the
Napoleonic
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
and
Crimean
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
eras. Arrangements of soldiers, officers waving swords, and cavalrymen swaggering seemed outdated to those at home, and risible to those with experience of the front. A wounded New Zealander standing in front of a painting of a cavalry charge commented that "one man with a machine-gun would wipe all that lot out."
Charles Masterman
Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman PC (24 October 1873 – 17 November 1927) was a British radical Liberal Party politician, intellectual and man of letters. He worked closely with such Liberal leaders as David Lloyd George and Winston Church ...
, head of the British War Propaganda Bureau, acting on the advice of
William Rothenstein
Sir William Rothenstein (29 January 1872 – 14 February 1945) was an English painter, printmaker, draughtsman, lecturer, and writer on art. Emerging during the early 1890s, Rothenstein continued to make art right up until his death. Though he c ...
, appointed
Muirhead Bone
Sir Muirhead Bone (23 March 1876 – 21 October 1953) was a Scottish etcher and watercolourist who became known for his depiction of industrial and architectural subjects and his work as a war artist in both the First and Second World Wars.
A fi ...
as Britain's first official war artist in May 1916.
[Vale Royal Borough Council. (2005).]
"Whitegate Conservation Area Update," p. 11.
/ref> In April 1917 James McBey
James McBey (23 December 1883 – 1 December 1959) was a largely self-taught artist and etcher whose prints were highly valued during the later stages of the etching revival in the early 20th century. He was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Lett ...
was appointed official artist for Egypt and Palestine, and William Orpen
Major Sir William Newenham Montague Orpen, (27 November 1878 – 29 September 1931) was an Irish artist who worked mainly in London. Orpen was a fine draughtsman and a popular, commercially successful painter of portraits for the well-to-do in ...
was sent to France. Orpen's work was criticised for superficiality in the pursuit of perfectionism: "in the tremendous fun of painting he altogether forgot the ghastliness of war".
The most popular painting in the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1917 was Frank O. Salisbury
Francis Owen Salisbury (18 December 1874 – 31 August 1962) was an English artist who specialised in portraits, large canvases of historical and ceremonial events, stained glass and book illustration. In his heyday he made a fortune on both si ...
's ''Boy 1st Class John Travers Cornwell
John Travers Cornwell VC (8 January 1900 – 2 June 1916), commonly known as Jack Cornwell or as Boy Cornwell, is remembered for his gallantry at the Battle of Jutland during World War I. Having died at the age of only 16, he was posthumously ...
V.C.'' depicting a youthful act of heroism. But of more artistic importance in 1917 was the establishment on 5 March of the Imperial War Museum and the foundation during the summer of the Canadian War Memorials Fund
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
by Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Rothermere and significant work by Australian war artists.
David Bomberg
David Garshen Bomberg (5 December 1890 – 19 August 1957) was a British painter, and one of the Whitechapel Boys.
Bomberg was one of the most audacious of the exceptional generation of artists who studied at the Slade School of Art under Henry ...
's experiences of mechanized slaughter and the death of his brother in the trenches - as well as those of his friend Isaac Rosenberg
Isaac Rosenberg (25 November 1890 – 1 April 1918) was an English poet and artist. His ''Poems from the Trenches'' are recognized as some of the most outstanding poetry written during the First World War.
Early life
Isaac Rosenberg was born ...
and his supporter T. E. Hulme
Thomas Ernest Hulme (; 16 September 1883 – 28 September 1917) was an English critic and poet who, through his writings on art, literature and politics, had a notable influence upon modernism. He was an aesthetic philosopher and the 'father ...
- permanently destroyed his faith in the aesthetics of the machine age.[ ] This can be seen most clearly in his commission for the Canadian War Memorials Fund, ''Sappers at Work'' (1918–1919): his first version of the painting was dismissed as a "futurist abortion" and was replaced by a second far more representational version.
At the 1918 Royal Academy exhibition, Walter Bayes
Walter John Bayes (31 May 1869 – 21 January 1956) was an English painter and illustrator who was a founder member of both the Camden Town Group and the London Group and also a renowned art teacher and critic.
Biography Early life
Bayes was bo ...
' monumental canvas ''The Underworld'' depicted figures sheltering in a London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...
station during an air raid. Its sprawling alien figures predate Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi- abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Moore produced ...
's studies of sheltering figures in the Tube during the Blitz
Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to:
Military uses
*Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign
*The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War
*, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...
of World War II.
:''See also the .''
Painting
Walter Richard Sickert's ''The Integrity of Belgium'', painted in October 1914, was, when exhibited in Burlington House
Burlington House is a building on Piccadilly in Mayfair, London. It was originally a private Neo-Palladian mansion owned by the Earls of Burlington and was expanded in the mid-19th century after being purchased by the British government. Toda ...
in January 1915 at an exhibition in aid of the Red Cross, recognised as the first oil painting exhibited of a battle incident in the Great War.
John Singer Sargent
Among the great artists who tried to capture an essential element of war in painting was Society portraitist John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...
. In his large painting '' Gassed'' and in many watercolors, Sargent depicted scenes from the Great War.
Wyndham Lewis
British painter Wyndham Lewis
Percy Wyndham Lewis (18 November 1882 – 7 March 1957) was a British writer, painter and critic. He was a co-founder of the Vorticist movement in art and edited ''BLAST,'' the literary magazine of the Vorticists.
His novels include ''Tarr'' ( ...
was appointed as an official war artist for both the Canadian and British governments, beginning work in December 1917 after Lewis' participation in the Third Battle of Ypres
The Third Battle of Ypres (german: link=no, Dritte Flandernschlacht; french: link=no, Troisième Bataille des Flandres; nl, Derde Slag om Ieper), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele (), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by t ...
. For the Canadians he painted ''A Canadian Gun-Pit'' (1918, National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...
, Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
) from sketches made on Vimy Ridge
The Battle of Vimy Ridge was part of the Battle of Arras, in the Pas-de-Calais department of France, during the First World War. The main combatants were the four divisions of the Canadian Corps in the First Army, against three divisions of ...
. For the British he painted one of his best known works, ''A Battery Shelled
''A Battery Shelled'' is a 1919 painting by the English artist Wyndham Lewis. It depicts a scene from the Western Front of World War I. It was commissioned for the proposed Hall of Remembrance.
Description
A number of men are seen working and m ...
'' (1919, Imperial War Museum)(se
, drawing on his own experience in charge of a 6-inch howitzer at Ypres. Lewis exhibited his war drawings and some other paintings of the war in an exhibition, "Guns", in 1918.
Alfred Munnings
An unlikely war artist was Sir Alfred Munnings
Sir Alfred James Munnings, (8 October 1878 – 17 July 1959) was known as one of England's finest painters of horses, and as an outspoken critic of Modernism. Engaged by Lord Beaverbrook's Canadian War Memorials Fund, he earned several prest ...
, who is best known as a painter of purebred racehorses; but he turned his painter's skills to the task of capturing images of the Canadian Cavalry Brigade
The Canadian Cavalry Brigade was raised in December 1914, under its first commanding officer Brigadier-General J.E.B. Seely. It was originally composed of two Canadian and one British regiments and an attached artillery battery. The Canadian u ...
in the war. His mounted portrait of General Jack Seely
John Edward Bernard Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone, (31 May 1868 – 7 November 1947), also known as Jack Seely, was a British Army general and politician. He was a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) from 1900 to 1904 and a Liberal MP from 1 ...
(later Lord Mottistone) on his charger ''Warrior'' achieved acclaim. Forty-five of his canvasses were exhibited at the "Canadian War Records Exhibition" at the Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
, including ''Charge of Flowerdew's Squadron'' at Moreuil Wood in March 1918. Lieutenant Gordon Flowerdew
Gordon Muriel Flowerdew (2 January 1885 – 31 March 1918) was an English-born Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth ...
of Lord Strathcona's Horse cavalry, was awarded the Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
for leading the attack.
Less well known are paintings which feature teams of work-horses in the staging areas behind the front lines with the Canadian Forestry Corps
The Canadian Forestry Corps (''Corps forestier canadien'' in French) was an administrative corps of the Canadian Army with its own cap badge, and other insignia and traditions.
The Canadian Forestry Corps was created 14 Nov 1916. The badge of t ...
. The artist later recalled these days in his autobiography:
::My next move was unexpected and unlooked-for. Amongst the officers who came to have a look, as the news spread that my pictures were to be seen on the walls of ... eadquarters..., there were two colonels, both in the Canadian Forestry Corps ... persuading me that I must go with them and see the companies of Canadian Forestry who were then working in the many beautiful forests of France ....[Munnings, Alfred. (1950). ''An Artist's Life,'' pp. 313-315.]
::The forest of Conche
upright=1.35, Conche (in the Imhoff-Schokoladenmuseum)
Conching is a process used in the manufacture of chocolate whereby a surface scraping mixer and agitator, known as a conche, evenly distributes cocoa butter within chocolate and may act as ...
in Normandy was my first experience of painting with the Forestry. Then came the area of the forest of Dreux
Dreux () is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France.
Geography
Dreux lies on the small river Blaise, a tributary of the Eure, about 35 km north of Chartres. Dreux station has rail connections to Argentan, Paris and Granvi ...
, one of the finest in France, taking up fifteen square miles of ground... Each company had a hundred and twenty horses, all half-bred Percheron
The Percheron is a breed of draft horse that originated in the Huisne river valley in western France, part of the former Perche province from which the breed takes its name. Usually gray or black in color, Percherons are well muscled, and k ...
types, mostly blacks and greys. A rivalry existed between the companies as to which had the best-conditioned teams. I painted pictures of these teams at work, pictures of men axing, sawing down trees...
John Nash
British painter John Nash believed that "the artist's main business is to train his eye to see, then to probe, and then to train his hand to work in sympathy with his eye."
The artist's most celebrated war painting is ''Over the Top
Over the top may refer to:
Music
* "Over the Top", a 2017 song by Hey! Say! JUMP
* ''Over the Top'' (Cozy Powell album), 1979 album by British drummer Cozy Powell
* ''Over the Top'' (Infinite album), 2011 album by South Korean band Infinite
* ...
'' (oil on canvas, 79.4 x 107.3 cm), now hanging in the Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...
in London. In this painting, the artist presents an image of the 30 December 1917 Welsh Ridge counter-attack, during which the 1st Battalion Artists Rifles
The 21 Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Reserve), historically known as The Artists Rifles is a regiment of the Army Reserve. Its name is abbreviated to 21 SAS(R).
Raised in London in 1859 as a volunteer light infantry unit, the regimen ...
(28th London Regiment) left their trenches
A trench is a type of excavation or in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a wider gully, or ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or pit).
In geology, trenches result from eros ...
and pushed towards Marcoing
Marcoing () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.
History
During World War I, there was an alleged incident between a British soldier named Henry Tandey and Adolf Hitler in this area. Hitler was unarmed and appeared wounded, so T ...
near Cambrai
Cambrai (, ; pcd, Kimbré; nl, Kamerijk), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department and in the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, regio ...
. Of the eighty men, sixty-eight were killed or wounded during the first few minutes.[Gregory, Barry. (2006)]
''A History of the Artists Rifles 1859-1947,''
p. 176.
Nash himself was one of the twelve spared by the machine gun fire in the charge depicted in the painting. He created this artwork three months later. The war artist crafted a chilling, harsh, vivid image. The painting offers a narrative of men moving forward despite the likelihood of not coming back alive:
::As soon as our line, set on its jolting way, emerged, I felt that two men close by had been hit, two shadows fell to the ground and rolled under our feet, one with a high-pitched scream and the other in silence like an ox. Another disappeared with a movement like a madman, as if he had been carried away. Instinctively, we closed ranks and pushed each other forward, always forward, and the wound in our midst closed itself. The warrant officer stopped and raised his sword, dropped it, fell to his knees, his kneeling body falling backwards in jerks, his helmet fell on his heels and he remained there, his head uncovered, looking up to the sky. The line has promptly split to avoid breaking this immobility. But we couldn't see the lieutenant any more. No more superiors, then... A moment's hesitation held back the human wave which had reached the beginning of the plateau. The hoarse sound of air passing through our lungs could be heard over the stamping of feet. Forward! cried a soldier. So we all marched forward, moving faster and faster in our race towards the abyss.[Art of the First World War]
Arthur Streeton
Australian painter Arthur Streeton
Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton (8 April 1867 – 1 September 1943) was an Australian landscape painter and a leading member of the Heidelberg School, also known as Australian Impressionism.
Early life
Streeton was born in Mt Moriac, Victoria, sou ...
was an Australian Official War Artist with the Australian Imperial Force, holding the rank of lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...
. He served in France attached to the 2nd Division.
Streeton brought something of the antipodes Heidelberg school
The Heidelberg School was an Australian art movement of the late 19th century. It has latterly been described as Australian impressionism.
Melbourne art critic Sidney Dickinson coined the term in an 1891 review of works by Arthur Streeton and ...
sensibility to his paintings of an ANZAC battlefield in France.
Streeton's most famous war painting, ''Amiens the key of the west'' shows the Amiens
Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...
countryside with dirty plumes of battlefield smoke staining the horizon, which becomes a subtle image of war.
As a war artist, Streeton continued to deal in landscapes and his works have been criticised for failing to concentrate on the fighting soldiers.
Streeton aimed to produce "military still life", capturing the everyday moments of the war. Streeton observed that, "True pictures of battlefields are very quiet looking things. There's nothing much to be seen, everybody and thing is hidden and camouflaged."
Sculpture
A sculpture by Charles Web Gilbert
Charles Marsh Webb (Nash) Gilbert (18 March 1867 – 3 October 1925), known professionally as C. Web Gilbert, was a self-taught Australian sculptor renowned both within Australia and abroad.
Gilbert was born at Cockatoo in Victoria, between Talb ...
was designed as a part of the Mont St. Quentin Memorial which was dedicated in the mid-1920s at Mont St. Quentin, France. The original memorial to the men of the 2nd Australian Division features an heroic bronze statue of an Australian soldier bayoneting a German eagle.[Australian War Memorial: Image number P02205.011, caption.]
A bronze plaque on the pedestal of the monument reads: 'To the officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the 2nd Australian Division who fought in France and Belgium in the Great War 1916, 1917, 1918.'
The statue on top of the memorial and the bas reliefs on its sides, which were sculpted respectively by Lieutenant Charles Web Gilbert
Charles Marsh Webb (Nash) Gilbert (18 March 1867 – 3 October 1925), known professionally as C. Web Gilbert, was a self-taught Australian sculptor renowned both within Australia and abroad.
Gilbert was born at Cockatoo in Victoria, between Talb ...
and May Butler-George, were removed by the occupying German Army in 1940. They were later replaced with a new statue and new reliefs.
Remembrance
Iconic memorials created after the war are designed as symbols of remembrance and as carefully contrived works of art.
In London, the Guards Memorial
The Guards Memorial, also known as the Guards Division War Memorial, is an outdoor war memorial located on the west side of Horse Guards Road, opposite Horse Guards Parade in London, United Kingdom. It commemorates the war dead from the Guards ...
was designed by the sculptor Gilbert Ledward
Gilbert Ledward (23 January 1888 – 21 June 1960), was an English sculptor.
He won the British Prix de Rome for sculpture in 1913, and in World War I served in the Royal Garrison Artillery and later as a war artist. He was professor of s ...
in 1923–26. The edifice was erected on Horse Guards Parade and dedicated to the five Foot Guards regiments of World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. The bronze figures were cast from guns from the Great War, commemorating the First Battle of Ypres
The First Battle of Ypres (french: Première Bataille des Flandres; german: Erste Flandernschlacht – was a battle of the First World War, fought on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front around Ypres, in West Flanders, Belgium. Th ...
and other battles.
Literature
World War I has been the subject of numerous novels; by far the most well-known is Erich Maria Remarque
Erich Maria Remarque (, ; born Erich Paul Remark; 22 June 1898 – 25 September 1970) was a German-born novelist. His landmark novel '' All Quiet on the Western Front'' (1928), based on his experience in the Imperial German Army during Worl ...
's ''All Quiet on the Western Front
''All Quiet on the Western Front'' (german: Im Westen nichts Neues, lit=Nothing New in the West) is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental trauma du ...
'', which presented a bleak view of the war from the German perspective.
The war was also the subject of well-known poetry, most notably by Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC (18 March 1893 – 4 November 1918) was an English poet and soldier. He was one of the leading poets of the First World War. His war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare was much influenced by ...
and Siegfried Sassoon
Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both describ ...
, both of whom served in the war (as did Remarque). Another notable poem is "In Flanders Fields
"In Flanders Fields" is a war poem in the form of a rondeau, written during the First World War by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae. He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and f ...
" by Canadian soldier John McCrae
Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae (November 30, 1872 – January 28, 1918) was a Canadian poet, physician, author, artist and soldier during World War I, and a surgeon during the Second Battle of Ypres, in Belgium. He is best known for writing the ...
, who also served in the war; it led to the use of the remembrance poppy
A remembrance poppy is an artificial flower worn in some countries to commemorate their military personnel who died in war. Remembrance poppies are produced by veterans' associations, who exchange the poppies for charitable donations used to gi ...
as a symbol for soldiers who have died in war.
Several entire genres grew out of the disillusionment and disappointment of World War I. The hard-boiled detective novels of the 1920s featured bitter veteran protagonists. The horror stories of H. P. Lovecraft after the war showed a new sense of nihilism and despair in the face of an uncaring, chaotic cosmos, very unlike his more conventional horror before the war.
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
was never quite so fertile a topic as World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
for American fiction, but there were nevertheless a large number of fictional works created about it in Europe, Canada, and Australia. Many war novel
A war novel or military fiction is a novel about war. It is a novel in which the primary action takes place on a battlefield, or in a civilian setting (or home front), where the characters are preoccupied with the preparations for, suffering the ...
s, however, have fallen out of print since their original. Numerous scholarly studies have covered the major fictional authors and writings.
By participants
* ''Tell England
''Tell England: A Study in a Generation'' is a novel written by Ernest Raymond and published in February 1922 in the United Kingdom. Its themes are the First World War and the young men sent to fight in it.
The book became a bestseller, some 3 ...
'' by Ernest Raymond
Ernest Raymond (31 December 1888 – 14 May 1974) was a British novelist, best known for his first novel, '' Tell England'' (1922), set in World War I. His next biggest success was ''We, the Accused'' (1935), generally thought to be a reworki ...
* ''All Quiet on the Western Front
''All Quiet on the Western Front'' (german: Im Westen nichts Neues, lit=Nothing New in the West) is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental trauma du ...
'' and ''The Road Back
''The Road Back'', also translated as ''The Way Back'', (german: Der Weg zurück) is a novel by German author Erich Maria Remarque, commonly regarded as a sequel to his 1929 novel ''All Quiet on the Western Front''. It was first serialized in the ...
'' by Erich Maria Remarque
Erich Maria Remarque (, ; born Erich Paul Remark; 22 June 1898 – 25 September 1970) was a German-born novelist. His landmark novel '' All Quiet on the Western Front'' (1928), based on his experience in the Imperial German Army during Worl ...
(German)
* ''The Good Soldier Švejk
''The Good Soldier Švejk'' () is an unfinished satirical dark comedy novel by Czech writer Jaroslav Hašek, published in 1921–1923, about a good-humored, simple-minded, middle-aged man who pretends to be enthusiastic to serve Austria-Hungary i ...
'' by Jaroslav Hašek
Jaroslav Hašek (; 1883–1923) was a Czech writer, humorist, satirist, journalist, bohemian and anarchist. He is best known for his novel '' The Fate of the Good Soldier Švejk during the World War'', an unfinished collection of farcical incide ...
(Czech)
* ''A Farewell to Arms
''A Farewell to Arms'' is a novel by American writer Ernest Hemingway, set during the Italian campaign of World War I. First published in 1929, it is a first-person account of an American, Frederic Henry, serving as a lieutenant () in the am ...
'' by Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...
(American)
* '' The Middle Parts of Fortune'' by Frederic Manning
Frederic Manning (22 July 188222 February 1935) was an Australian poet and novelist.
Biography
Born in Sydney, Manning was one of eight children of local politician Sir William Patrick Manning. His family were Roman Catholics of Irish orig ...
(Australian)
* ''Death of a Hero
''Death of a Hero'' is a World War I novel by Richard Aldington. It was his first novel, published by Chatto & Windus in 1929, and thought to be partly autobiographical.
Plot summary
''Death of a Hero'' is the story of a young English artist na ...
'' by Richard Aldington
Richard Aldington (8 July 1892 – 27 July 1962), born Edward Godfree Aldington, was an English writer and poet, and an early associate of the Imagist movement. He was married to the poet Hilda Doolittle (H. D.) from 1911 to 1938. His 50-year w ...
* '' Ashenden'' by W. Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...
* '' A Year on the Plateau'' (or ''Sardinian Brigade'') by Emilio Lussu
Emilio Lussu (4 December 1890 – 5 March 1975) was an Italian soldier, politician, anti-fascist and writer.
Biography The soldier
Lussu was born in Armungia, province of Cagliari (Sardinia) and graduated with a degree in law in 1914. Lussu ma ...
(Italian)
* ''Parade's End
''Parade's End'' is a tetralogy of novels by the British novelist and poet Ford Madox Ford, written from 1924 to 1928. The novels chronicle the life of a member of the English gentry before, during and after World War I. The setting is mainly ...
'' by Ford Madox Ford
Ford Madox Ford (né Joseph Leopold Ford Hermann Madox Hueffer ( ); 17 December 1873 – 26 June 1939) was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals ''The English Review'' and ''The Transatlantic Review'' were instrumental in ...
(British)
* '' Under Fire'' by Henri Barbusse
Henri Barbusse (; 17 May 1873 – 30 August 1935) was a French novelist and a member of the French Communist Party. He was a lifelong friend of Albert Einstein.
Life
The son of a French father and an English mother, Barbusse was born in Asnièr ...
(French)
* ''Journey's End
''Journey's End'' is a 1928 dramatic play by English playwright R. C. Sherriff, set in the trenches near Saint-Quentin, Aisne, towards the end of the First World War. The story plays out in the officers' dugout of a British Army infantry comp ...
'' by R. C. Sherriff
Robert Cedric Sherriff, FSA, FRSL (6 June 1896 – 13 November 1975) was an English writer best known for his play '' Journey's End'', which was based on his experiences as an army officer in the First World War. He wrote several plays, many nov ...
(British)
* '' The Spanish Farm'' trilogy by Ralph Hale Mottram
Ralph Hale Mottram FRSL (30 October 1883 – 16 April 1971) was an English writer. A lifelong resident of Norfolk, he was well known as a novelist, in particular for his "Spanish Farm trilogy",Cameron SelfMousehold Heath, Norwichin ''Literary Nor ...
(British)
* ''Generals Die in Bed
''Generals Die in Bed'' is an anti-war novella by the Canadian writer Charles Yale Harrison. Based on the author's own experiences in combat, it tells the story of a young soldier fighting in the trench warfare, trenches of World War I. It was fi ...
'' by Charles Yale Harrison (Canadian)
* '' The German Prisoner'' by James Hanley (British)
* ''Goodbye to All That
''Good-Bye to All That'' is an autobiography by Robert Graves which first appeared in 1929, when the author was 34 years old. "It was my bitter leave-taking of England," he wrote in a prologue to the revised second edition of 1957, "where I ha ...
'' (memoir) by Robert Graves
Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...
(British)
* ''Storm of Steel
''Storm of Steel'' (german: In Stahlgewittern, lit=In Steel Thunderstorms; original English title: ''In Storms of Steel'') is the memoir of German officer Ernst Jünger's experiences on the Western Front during the First World War from December ...
'' (memoir) by Ernst Jünger
Ernst Jünger (; 29 March 1895 – 17 February 1998) was a German author, highly decorated soldier, philosopher, and entomologist who became publicly known for his World War I memoir '' Storm of Steel''.
The son of a successful businessman and ...
(German)
* ''Memoirs of an Infantry Officer
''Memoirs of an Infantry Officer'' is a novel by Siegfried Sassoon, first published in 1930. It is a fictionalised account of Sassoon's own life during and immediately after World War I. Soon after its release, it was heralded as a classic and ...
'' (memoir) by Siegfried Sassoon
Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both describ ...
(British)
* ''Testament of Youth
''Testament of Youth'' is the first instalment, covering 1900–1925, in the memoir of Vera Brittain (1893–1970). It was published in 1933. Brittain's memoir continues with ''Testament of Experience'', published in 1957, and encompassing th ...
'' (memoir) by Vera Brittain
Vera Mary Brittain (29 December 1893 – 29 March 1970) was an English Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) nurse, writer, feminist, socialist and pacifist. Her best-selling 1933 memoir ''Testament of Youth'' recounted her experiences during the First ...
(British)
* ''Undertones of War
''Undertones of War'' is a 1928 memoir of the First World War, written by English poet Edmund Blunden. As with two other famous war memoirs-— Siegfried Sassoon's ''Sherston trilogy'', and Robert Graves' ''Good-Bye to All That''--''Undertones'' ...
'' (memoir) by Edmund Blunden
Edmund Charles Blunden (1 November 1896 – 20 January 1974) was an English poet, author, and critic. Like his friend Siegfried Sassoon, he wrote of his experiences in World War I in both verse and prose. For most of his career, Blunden was als ...
(British)
* '' Ghosts have Warm Hands'' (memoir) by Will R. Bird
William Richard Bird (May 11, 1891 – 1984) was a Canadian writer, author of fifteen novels, two memoirs, six history books and three travel books.
Life and career
He was born in rural East Mapleton, Nova Scotia, son of Augusta Bird, a school t ...
(Canadian)
* ''The Enormous Room
''The Enormous Room (The Green-Eyed Stores)'' is a 1922 autobiographical novel by the poet and novelist E. E. Cummings about his temporary imprisonment in France during World War I.
Background
Cummings served as an ambulance driver during the wa ...
'' by E.E. Cummings
Edward Estlin Cummings, who was also known as E. E. Cummings, e. e. cummings and e e cummings (October 14, 1894 - September 3, 1962), was an American poet, painter, essayist, author and playwright. He wrote approximately 2,900 poems, two autobi ...
(British)
* ''The Last Night of Love, the First Night of War
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
'' by Camil Petrescu
Camil Petrescu (; 9/21 April 1894 – 14 May 1957) was a Romanian playwright, novelist, philosopher and poet. He marked the end of the traditional novel era and laid the foundation of the modern novel era in Romania.
Life
Petrescu was born in Bu ...
(Romanian)
* ''Three Soldiers
''Three Soldiers'' is a 1921 novel by American writer and critic John Dos Passos. It is one of the American war novels of the First World War, and remains a classic of the realist war novel genre.
Background
H. L. Mencken praised the book in t ...
'' by John Dos Passos
John Roderigo Dos Passos (; January 14, 1896 – September 28, 1970) was an American novelist, most notable for his ''U.S.A.'' trilogy.
Born in Chicago, Dos Passos graduated from Harvard College in 1916. He traveled widely as a young man, visit ...
(American)
With primary emphasis on the war
* ''Across the Black Waters
''Across the Black Waters'' is an English language, English novel by the Indian writer Mulk Raj Anand first published in 1939. It describes the experience of Lalu, a sepoy in the Indian Army fighting on behalf of United Kingdom, Britain against ...
'' by Mulk Raj Anand
Mulk Raj Anand (12 December 1905 – 28 September 2004) was an Indian writer in English, recognised for his depiction of the lives of the poorer castes in traditional Indian society. One of the pioneers of Indo-Anglian fiction, he, togethe ...
* ''The Major''
* ''Johnny Got His Gun
''Johnny Got His Gun'' is an anti-war novel written in 1938 by American novelist Dalton Trumbo and published in September 1939 by J. B. Lippincott. The novel won one of the early National Book Awards: the Most Original Book of 1939. A 1971 fil ...
''
* ''The Blue Max
''The Blue Max'' is a 1966 British war film directed by John Guillermin and starring George Peppard, James Mason, Ursula Andress, Karl Michael Vogler, and Jeremy Kemp. The film was made in DeLuxe Color and filmed in CinemaScope. The plot is a ...
''
* ''The Wars
''The Wars'' is a 1977 novel by Timothy Findley that follows Robert Ross, a nineteen-year-old Canadian who enlists in World War I after the death of his beloved older sister in an attempt to escape both his grief and the social norms of oppressiv ...
''
* ''Billy Bishop Goes to War
''Billy Bishop Goes to War'' is a Canadian musical, written by John MacLachlan Gray in collaboration with the actor Eric Peterson. One of the most widely produced plays in Canadian theatre, the two-man play dramatizes the life of Canadian World ...
''
* '' La guerre, yes sir!''
* ''Regeneration
Regeneration may refer to:
Science and technology
* Regeneration (biology), the ability to recreate lost or damaged cells, tissues, organs and limbs
* Regeneration (ecology), the ability of ecosystems to regenerate biomass, using photosynthesis
...
'' and the ''Regeneration Trilogy
The Regeneration Trilogy is a series of three novels by Pat Barker on the subject of the First World War. In 2012, ''The Observer'' named it as one of "The 10 best historical novels".
* '' Regeneration'' (1991)
* ''The Eye in the Door'' (1993) ...
''
* '' An Ace Minus One''
* '' The General''
* " Rivka's War"
* '' Three Cheers for Me'' by Donald Jack
Donald Lamont Jack (6 December 1924 – 2 June 2003) was an English and Canadian novelist and playwright.
Life
Jack was born in Radcliffe, Bury, England and grew up in Britain, attending the well regarded Bury Grammar School and Marr College and ...
* '' The Wee Fellas''
With the war as context or background
* ''The Return of the Soldier
''The Return of the Soldier'' is the debut novel of English novelist Rebecca West, first published in 1918. The novel recounts the return of the shell shocked Captain Chris Baldry from the trenches of the First World War from the perspective ...
''
* ''Barometer Rising
''Barometer Rising'' is a romantic-realist novel by Canadian author Hugh MacLennan. The work explores life in Halifax, Nova Scotia during World War I, and its interruption by the Halifax explosion. The narrative predominantly follows and pivots ...
''
* ''Herbert West–Reanimator
"Herbert West–Reanimator" is a horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was written between October 1921 and June 1922. It was first serialized in February through July 1922 in the amateur publication ''Home Brew''. The stor ...
''
* ''Rilla of Ingleside
''Rilla of Ingleside'' (1921) is the eighth of nine books in the ''Anne of Green Gables'' series by Lucy Maud Montgomery, but was the sixth "Anne" novel in publication order. This book draws the focus back onto a single character, Anne and Gilbert ...
''
* ''The Stones Are Hatching
''The Stones Are Hatching'' is a young adult fantasy novel by Geraldine McCaughrean first published in 1999 by Oxford University Press.
Plot
Eleven-year-old Phelim Green awakes to find his house full of small creatures, led by the Domovoy which ...
''
* ''Fly Away Peter
''Fly Away Peter'' is a 1982 novel by Australian author David Malouf. It won The Age Book of the Year award in 1982, and is often studied at senior level in Australian high schools.
Plot summary
''Fly Away Peter'' is an Australian novel set ...
''
* ''Soldier's Pay
''Soldiers' Pay'' is the first novel published by the American author William Faulkner. It was originally published by Boni & Liveright on February 25, 1926. It is unclear if ''Soldiers' Pay'' is the first novel written by Faulkner. It is however t ...
'' (William Faulkner)
* '' How Young They Die'' (Stuart Cloete)
* ''Leviathan (Westerfeld novel)
''Leviathan'' is a 2009 novel written by Scott Westerfeld and illustrated by Keith Thompson. It is the first work in the trilogy of the same name, followed by sequels '' Behemoth'' and '' Goliath''. The trilogy is set in an alternative version ...
''
Theatre
Plays set during World War I include:
* ''Journey's End
''Journey's End'' is a 1928 dramatic play by English playwright R. C. Sherriff, set in the trenches near Saint-Quentin, Aisne, towards the end of the First World War. The story plays out in the officers' dugout of a British Army infantry comp ...
'' (1928), by R. C. Sherriff
Robert Cedric Sherriff, FSA, FRSL (6 June 1896 – 13 November 1975) was an English writer best known for his play '' Journey's End'', which was based on his experiences as an army officer in the First World War. He wrote several plays, many nov ...
* ''Oh, What a Lovely War!
''Oh, What a Lovely War!'' is an epic musical developed by Joan Littlewood and her ensemble at the Theatre Workshop in 1963. It is a satire on World War I, and by extension on war in general. The title is derived from the "somewhat satirical" ...
'' (1963), by Joan Littlewood
Joan Maud Littlewood (6 October 1914 – 20 September 2002) was an English theatre director who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and is best known for her work in developing the Theatre Workshop. She has been called "The Mother of M ...
* ''The Accrington Pals
The Accrington Pals, officially the 11th (Service) Battalion (Accrington), East Lancashire Regiment, was a pals battalion of Kitchener's Army raised in and around the town of Accrington during the First World War.
History
Recruiting was initi ...
'' (1982), by Peter Whelan
Peter Whelan (3 October 1931 – 3 July 2014) was a British playwright.
Whelan was born and raised in Stoke-on-Trent, England. As a student from 1951–55 Whelan was an inspirational figure in the newly-formed Drama Society at the experimental ...
* ''Not About Heroes
''Not About Heroes'' is a drama by Stephen MacDonald about the real-life relationship between the poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon first performed in 1982 at the Edinburgh Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The play has only two character ...
'' (1982), by Stephen MacDonald
Stephen MacDonald (5 May 1933 – 12 August 2009) was a British actor, director and dramatist.
MacDonald was brought up and educated in Birmingham, where he trained as an actor, but subsequently worked extensively in Scotland as a theatre d ...
* '' My Boy Jack'' (1997), by David Haig
David Haig Collum Ward (born 20 September 1955) is an English actor and playwright. He has appeared in West End productions and numerous television and film roles over a career spanning four decades.
Haig wrote the play '' My Boy Jack'', w ...
* ''War Horse
The first evidence of horses in warfare dates from Eurasia between 4000 and 3000 BC. A Sumerian illustration of warfare from 2500 BC depicts some type of equine pulling wagons. By 1600 BC, improved harness and chariot design ...
'' (2007), by Nick Stafford
Nick Stafford (born Nicholas Thomas, 1959 in Staffordshire) is a British playwright and writer. He is best known for writing War Horse (play), the stage adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's novel ''War Horse (novel), War Horse'', which garnered him a ...
Films
Over 100 films have been set, in whole or in part, in World War I. Among the most notable are:
* ''Shoulder Arms
''Shoulder Arms'' is Charlie Chaplin's second film for First National Pictures. Released in 1918, it is a silent comedy film set in France during World War I, the first of three films he made on the subject of war. It co-starred Edna Purviance ...
'' (1918) - comedy starring Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...
* '' The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse'' (1921) - drama starring Rudolph Valentino
Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor based in the United States who starred ...
* ''The Big Parade
''The Big Parade'' is a 1925 American silent war drama film directed by King Vidor, starring John Gilbert, Renée Adorée, Hobart Bosworth, Tom O'Brien, and Karl Dane. Written by World War I veteran, Laurence Stallings, the film is about an ...
'' (1925) - an American soldier in France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
experiences both tragedy and love
* ''Wings (1927 film), Wings'' (1927) - shows the relationship between two American World War I fighter pilots
* ''All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film), All Quiet on the Western Front'' (1930) - a group of German high school students join the army, but meet tragic fates during the war
* ''Hell's Angels (film), Hell's Angels'' (1930) - affairs during the war
* ''Doughboys (1930 film), Doughboys'' (1930) - comedy starring Buster Keaton
* ''Pack Up Your Troubles (1932 film), Pack Up Your Troubles'' (1932) - comedy starring Laurel and Hardy
* ''A Farewell to Arms (1932 film), A Farewell to Arms'' (1932) - a tragic love story between an American ambulance driver in the Italian army and a Red Cross nurse
* ''Rasputin and the Empress'' (1932) - a biography of Grigori Rasputin, the infamous Russian mystic
* ''Secret Agent (1936 film), Secret Agent'' (1936) - about British espionage in Switzerland
* ''La Grande Illusion'' (1937) - a group of French prisoners of war plot an escape
* ''The Dawn Patrol (1938 film), The Dawn Patrol'' (1938) - about British pilots fighting in France
* ''Sergeant York (film), Sergeant York'' (1941) - a biopic of Alvin York, the most decorated American soldier of World War I
* ''Yankee Doodle Dandy'' (1942) - a biopic of songwriter and Broadway star, George M. Cohan
* ''Wilson (1944 film), Wilson'' (1944) - a biopic of Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of America
* ''The African Queen (film), The African Queen'' (1951) - a Canadian boat captain and a female British missionary attempt to evade German forces in German East Africa
* ''East of Eden (film), East of Eden'' (1955) - about an angry young man who wants his deeply religious father to love him like his brother
* ''Paths of Glory'' (1957) - about a commanding officer of French soldiers who defends them against a charge of cowardice during a court-martial trial
* ''Lawrence of Arabia (film), Lawrence of Arabia'' (1962) - the adventures of T. E. Lawrence in the Arab Revolt against Turkish rule in present-day Egypt and Syria
* ''The Blue Max
''The Blue Max'' is a 1966 British war film directed by John Guillermin and starring George Peppard, James Mason, Ursula Andress, Karl Michael Vogler, and Jeremy Kemp. The film was made in DeLuxe Color and filmed in CinemaScope. The plot is a ...
'' (1966) - an ambitious Luftstreitkräfte, German Army Air Service fighter pilot seeks the aerial engagements to earn the German Empire's top military award, based on Jack D. Hunter's novel
* ''Oh! What a Lovely War'' (1969) - comedy with an all star British cast
* ''Johnny Got His Gun (film), Johnny Got His Gun'' (1971) - an American soldier is rendered immobile after being hit by an artillery shell
* ''Gallipoli (1981 film), Gallipoli'' (1981) - several men from rural Western Australia take part in the Gallipoli Campaign in Turkey
* ''Passchendaele (film), Passchendaele'' (2008) - a Canadian soldier experiences both love and tragedy during the months-long Battle of Passchendaele
* ''War Horse (film), War Horse'' (2011) - a teenage boy whose horse is conscripted for the war joins the British army in order to reunite with it
* ''Wonder Woman (2017 film), Wonder Woman'' (2017) - Wonder Woman fights in the war for the Allies of World War I, Allies
* ''1917 (2019 film), 1917'' (2019) - two young British soldiers are given a mission to deliver a message warning of a German ambush
* ''The King's Man'' (2021) - Orlando, Duke of Oxford fights against a secret group that conspires the course of World War 1
Television
There have been several television series and miniseries set during World War I.
The fourth series of the 1971–75 British television drama ''Upstairs, Downstairs (1971 TV series), Upstairs, Downstairs'', which aired in 1974, was set during the years of World War I and showed the war's effects from the perspective of a townhouse in London.
The 1985 Australian miniseries ''Anzacs (TV series), Anzacs'' was about members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during World War I and the 2015 miniseries ''Gallipoli (miniseries), Gallipoli'' was about the Gallipoli campaign.
''Blackadder Goes Forth'', the fourth and final series of the British sitcom ''Blackadder'', which aired in 1989, presented a satirical view of the war and the British military.
''My Boy Jack (film), My Boy Jack'' was a 2007 television film, adapted from the play of the same name, about Rudyard Kipling's son, who was killed in France.
The second season of the British television drama ''Downton Abbey'', which aired in 2011, showed the effects of the war mostly from the perspective of the eponymous estate. The season particularly focused on how great houses in Britain served as Convalescent home, convalescent homes during the war.
World War I is used for the season 2 episode "The War to End All Wars" of the NBC series ''Timeless (TV series), Timeless''. In the episode, Rufus and Wyatt travel to World War I on September 14, 1918, to save Lucy from Rittenhouse.
In addition:
* "Birdsong (TV serial)" (2012)
* "Wipers Times#Television, Wipers Times" (2013)
Popular songs
* "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" (1972), song by Eric Bogle
* "No Man's Land (Eric Bogle song), No Man's Land" (also known as ''The Green Fields of France'' and ''Willie McBride'') (1976), song by Eric Bogle
* "Barón Rojo" (1981) Barón Rojo
* "Christmas In The Trenches (John McCutcheon Song), Christmas in the Trenches" (1984) by John McCutcheon
* "The Dream of the Blue Turtles, Children's Crusade" (1985), song by Sting (musician), Sting
* "One (Metallica song), One" (1989), song by Metallica
* "All Together Now (The Farm song), All Together Now" (1990), song by The Farm (British band), The Farm
* "Scream Aim Fire_(song), Scream Aim Fire" (2008), song by Bullet for My Valentine
* "All Your Friends" (2014), song by Coldplay
Video games
There have been comparably few games set during World War I. Many of those that have been made focused on the air war, such as Sopwith (video game), Sopwith from 1984. However, NecroVision is one of the few first person shooters games set in World War I, where the player fights on known battlefields during the war, such as the Somme. ''Call of Duty: Black Ops II'' final DLC pack features "Origins", a zombie map that is set in a dieselpunk France during World War I.
''Valiant Hearts: The Great War'' was released by Ubisoft in 2014. The game is about four characters who help a German soldier find his true love. This Adventure game, adventure is inspired by letters written during World War I.
While not many video games are set during World War I there has been a considerable amount of modifications for other games that change these either partially or completely into the World War I setting (such as "The Great War" mod for ''Napoleon: Total War'').
On May 7, 2016, EA DICE revealed ''Battlefield 1'', a first-person shooter video game primarily set in World War I featuring the Harlem Hellfighters, the Red Baron and Lawrence of Arabia. It was released on October 21, 2016, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
In the 2019 game ''Death Stranding'', player character Sam Porter Bridges encounters hostile skeletal soldiers in American World War I-era uniforms within a World War I trench.
Other examples include:
* ''Red Baron (arcade game), Red Baron'' (1980)
* ''Blue Max (computer game), Blue Max'' (1983)
* ''Diplomacy (game)#Diplomacy computer games, Diplomacy'' (1984)
* ''Sky Kid'' (1985)
* ''Red Baron (video game), Red Baron'' (1990)
* ''Wings (1990 video game), Wings'' (1990)
* ''Verdun (video game), Verdun'' (2015)
Centennial
The years from 2014 to 2019 represented the centennial of the First World War. Over this period, several groups commemorated individuals, battles, and movements connected to the war, often with an emphasis on national identities.
See also
* British propaganda during World War I
* Italian propaganda during World War I
* World War II in popular culture
* War novel
* List of films based on war books
* Literature of World War I
Notes
References
* Cohen, Aaron J. (2008)
''Imagining the Unimaginable: World War, Modern Art, and the Politics of Public Culture in Russia, 1914-1917.''
Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
* Corbett, David Peters. (1997)
''The Modernity of English Art, 1914-30.''
Manchester: Manchester University Press.
* Das, Santanu. (2005)
''Touch and Intimacy in First World War Literature.''
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Meredith, James H. (2004)
''Understanding the Literature of World War I: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents.''
Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group.
OCLC 56086111
* Nicholas J. Saunders, Saunders, Nicholas J. (2002)
''Trench Art.''
Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
* Roy, Pinaki. (2010) "''The Pities of War'': A Brief Overview of the First World War British Poets and Poetry”. ''The Atlantic Critical Review Quarterly'' (; ) 9(1), January–March 2010: 40–56.
* Roy, Pinaki. (2011
"''Einer ruhigen literarischen Kreuzzug gegen den Krieg'': Rereading Remarque's ''All Quiet on the Western Front
''. ''Labyrinth'' (). Ed. L. Mishra. 2:4. October 2011. pp. 173–81.
* Roy, Pinaki. (2011
"''Schriftsteller Aus Der Marge'': German Poets of the Two World Wars"
''Labyrinth'' (). Ed. L.Mishra. 2:3. July 2011. pp. 47–59.
* Roy, Pinaki. (2015). "''Schriften des zum Scheitern Verurteilt'': First World War German Poetry". ''Journal of Higher Education and Research Society'' (). Ed. S. Nikam. 3(1), April 2015: 249–59.
* Strachan, Hew. (2000)
''The Oxford Illustrated History of the First World War: A History.''
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
* Viney, Nigel. (1991)
''Images of Wartime: British Art and Artists of World War I''
(Imperial War Museum). Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles.
OCLC 25964347
*
External links
* Analytical articl
"Propaganda and dissent in British popular song during the Great War"
* Watch clips fro
Australian films taken during World War I
and read Paul Byrnes' interpretations of them, on the National Film and Sound Archive'
australianscreen online
* Watch clips fro
Australian films, newsreels and documentaries about World War I
o
australianscreen online
* Listen to songs fro
Patriotic Melodies, 1910-1919
Collection: "World War I Posters from the U.S." from the University of Michigan Museum of Art
Online exhibition: "The Poster: Visual Persuasion in WWI" from the National WW Museum and Memorial
Learning resource: "First World War Recruitment Posters" from the Imperial War Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:World War I In Art And Literature
World War I in popular culture,
Cultural history of World War I
Modernism
History of literature
fr:Littérature et Première Guerre mondiale