Art at the Service of War: Canada, Art, and the Great War

The Canadian War Memorials Exhibition opened in the galleries of the Royal Academy in Burlington House in January 1919. Featuring four hundred paintings and sculptures depicting the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the First World War, the exhibition became the gala event of the London art season.

Art at the Service of War is the story of how artists as diverse as modernist Paul Nash, the revolutionary Vorticist Wyndham Lewis, and young Canadians such as A.Y. Jackson came to paint Canada’s war. Bringing together the artists, critics, and art gallery owners with patrons, military leaders, and politicians, the experience exposed Canadians to modern art at a time that the artists themselves were just beginning to explore this area.

First published in 1984, Art at the Service of War was one of the first contributions to Canadian cultural history. With the approaching hundredth anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War, this book provides a timely reminder of the impact of this conflict even beyond the military and political spheres.