Military Art Now – Symposium at the War Museum

"A Brush With War - Military Art from Korea to Afghanistan" is the current special exhibition at the War Museum. It shows works by artists who witnessed Canadian military history between 1946 and 2008. Most of them were involved in two military art programs: the Canadian Armed Forces Civilian Artists Program (1968-1995) and the Canadian Forces Artists Program (2001- present). The exhibition clearly shows that the artistic approach was initially influenced by the art of the First and Second World War programs. But recent works seems to be more personal, express a rather subjective view of the artists and follow therefore no longer a documentary approach.

Included in the show are two well-known paintings: A.Y. Jackson's “Vimy Ridge from Souchez Valley” (1918) and “His Majesty's Canadian Ship Prince Henry in Corsica” by Alex Colville (1944). But I was for example strongly impressed by William MacDonnell's “The Wall” (around 1995) that he created as an embedded artist with the Canadian military in Croatia. He depicted in grey colours and strong brush strokes the outside of a graveyard in Croatia that was littered with landmines. Quite shocking is the fact that, at first glance, this work seems to be almost idyllic, with no signs of violence and a sky at sunset...

William MacDonnell's “The Wall” (around 1995), Beaverbrook Collection of War Art, CWM 19970054-001

Also worth mentioning is a self-portrait by Karen Bailey that refers to her visit to Afghanistan in 2007 as an appointed military artist. In general she depicts e.g. Canadian military medical personnel caring for injured Afghan men and children; and she uses a palette of lighter tones including shades of yellow, orange and purple that provide the scenes in a paradoxical way with an almost happy athmosphere.

Self-Portrait by Karen Bailey (2007), on loan from the artist

In two weeks the War Museum will host a symposium about the The Canadian Forces Artists Program (CFAP) . It focus on the first ten years (2001-2011) of this program; and artists and representatives of the CFAP will give informal presentations in the morning and a panel discussion in the afternoon on Canadian military art in our century. The artists Karen Bailey, Bill MacDonnell, Karol Marois and the author Sharon McKay will be there! The event will be moderated by Dr. Laura Brandon, curator for art and war at the War Museum. I am looking forward to it!



Facts:
Military Art Now
Canadian War Museum
Atelier C and Barney Danson Theatre
February 17th, 2011 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Free event
The Museum asks kindly to register.

A Brush With War - Military Art from Korea to Afghanistan
December 10th, 2010 to March 20th, 2011
War Museum