War Artists from our Permanent Collection

With Remembrance Day soon approaching it is important to remember those Canadian's who served as war artists, creating a visual record of conflicts overseas and at home for future generations. During the onset of World War One, Lord Beaverbrook created the Canadian War Memorials Fund, a project to record the war from Canada’s point of view. From there Beaverbrook selected up and coming artists to document the war in film, photos, print and paint. 

Although the gallery only has a few pieces of war art in the collection, there are many artists from our permanent holdings that served as official war artists. Read on to find out more about a few of the artists from our collection that painted scenes of conflict. 

Did you know that A Y Jackson, future member of the Group of Seven actually served in the Canadian Army's 60th Batallion? Soon after reaching the Western Front in Belgium, he was wounded in action. After his recovery in hospital he was commissioned by the government as a war artist and painted battlefield scenes from 1917 to 1919.  Another future member of the Group of Seven, Frederick Varley, was attached to the Canadian Corps in August 1918 to paint the Canadian led offensive known as ‘The Hundred Days’, which eventually brought about the end of World War One. 

Lowrie Warrener, War Activity, Linocut/Thin, Laid Paper. 1940, 8 1/4 x 6 3/4,

 Gallery Lambton: Purchased 1984. 

Although Sarnia born artist Lowrie Warrener did not participate in any official war art program, he painted scenes of the home front during the Second World War. From the years 1942 to 1944,  Warrener worked at the John Inglis War Plant in Toronto, which produced machine guns for British and Canadian Forces during the war. From the scenes he saw in the factory, Warrener created stylized paintings of  the women working there. Beat the Promise, 1943, is now in the collection of the Canadian War Museum and his painting, War Activity (see image above) is part of our permanent collection. 

Capt. Will Ogilvie, Official army war artist, with some of his paintings, February 1944

Another artist from our permanent collection, William Ogilvie, joined the Canadian Army in 1940, and after basic training was employed as a service artist in London, Eng­land and was then commissioned in 1942 as an Official War Artist by the Canadian Government.  He began the war painting in the training camps of England and Scotland but was able to paint on the front lines by the end of the war. 

Women were not allowed to serve overseas as war artists, but in 1944 Pegi Nicol MacLeod accepted a commission by the National Gallery of Canada to depict women's military services. MacLoed accepted the task, painting scenes of the the Women's Division of the Armed Forces in Ottawa near the end of the war. 

Although not an official war painting, this gives an stylized idea of war artist Pegi Nicol MacLoed's works. 

 Pegi Nicol MacLeod, HOPE, Oil / Masonite, 1948, 30 1/2 X 13 7/8. Gallery Lambton: Purchased 1981

Dr. Laura Brandon, Curator / Historian, Art and War at the Canadian War Museum will be hosting a presentation tomorrow evening at the gallery entitled, Art of the Canadian War Programs, drawing connections to some of the artists in our current exhibitions and from the  permanent collection that worked as war artists during their careers. The presentation will begin at 7:00 pm.