War Art

John Beatty had a boisterous start in life. Born in Toronto in 1869, he was expelled from school at age 13 and by 16, itching for adventure, was enlisted and served as a bugle boy in the Northwest Rebellion of 1885. Following the surrender of Louis Riel, Beatty returned home and worked at an assortment of jobs until he was 18, at which time—against his parents’ wishes—he joined the Toronto Fire Department. It was a good fit for the lively, outspoken young man. Indeed, up until the time of his death in 1941, he was known as the fireman turned [...]

We were given a jeep and a driver and left to do something called war art…. We received our supplies of paint, brushes and things in London before we went over; I took oil and a paintbox and a lot of watercolours.” This was T.R. MacDonald describing his first days as an official war artist in northern Italy during the Second World War. And although the subject of war art was relatively new to him in 1944, by the time he enlisted—in March 1941—MacDonald was a seasoned artist. Born in Montreal in 1908, the artist studied figurative painting and thrived in [...]

The bleak quietness of William MacDonnell’s canvases is strangely threatening, and this is quite deliberate. The scenic painting titled Tragedy On A Country Road marks a place where Canadian soldiers, while driving, hit a landmine in the former Yugoslavia. Even though the viewer cannot help but pick up on the threat, it is obscure and hidden much like the landmines our soldiers often encounter while overseas. At first glance, MacDonnell’s work is idyllic, with no signs of violence. What appears as a quiet winter landscape in the artwork titled In A Forest Near Smolensk is in fact the same place in [...]

Christopher R.W. Nevinson, one of the earliest war artists, created images of World War I that explored the personal and global consequences of war. While one early painting was censored for its unflinching portrayal of death, others portrayed close-ups of wounded and worn soldiers; still others were distant landscapes that spoke to the industrial growth of the period and how that changed the face of war. The artist was born in 1889 in London, England. His parents were well-known journalists—his father an author and war correspondent, his mother a writer and suffragette. Unlike many of his peers, Nevinson’s family supported his [...]

Johnnene Maddison wanted to find a way to recognize the contribution of Canadian women on the home front during World War II, and what better way than in quilting, sewing and embroidery– stereotypically a woman’s craft. Her choice of medium lends both truth and [...]

Using a thick palette of soft lavender, yellow, cream and blue, Gyrth Russell painted the crumbling buildings and landscapes of the Canadian sector of the Western Front. In spite of the devastation, these sun-drenched canvasses have a sleepy Mediterranean [...]

Sculpture is perhaps the slowest and most laborious of all art, and the task of creating grace and lightness from stone seems an oxymoron. To succeed in Canada at any time as a sculptor is a challenge, but even that undertaking is overshadowed [...]

Bev Tosh captures the essence of what it is to be a war bride in 75 portraits on large wooden panels and four large works on canvas. These are paintings of the brides, just as they started on life’s biggest journeys, not just across oceans [...]

Donald Cameron Mackay was an east coaster through and through. He lived by the sea and loved to paint it. This blending of location and talent led to a collection of colourful images of harbour life on the East Coast. Although he was born in [...]

Frederick Bourchier Taylor was born in Ottawa in 1906, into a family of prosperous bankers. He began his studies in Montreal at McGill University’s School of Architecture and was soon working in that field for a few years. By 1932, Taylor had [...]