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Great War in Portraits exhibition to go beyond the pomp and circumstance Great War in Portraits exhibition to go beyond the pomp and circumstance
(35 minutes later)
Portraits of German and British politicians, generals, poets, civilians and horrifically injured soldiers will be shown beside a newspaper photograph of an insignificant looking 19-year-old student, Gavrilo Princip, in an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery next year.Portraits of German and British politicians, generals, poets, civilians and horrifically injured soldiers will be shown beside a newspaper photograph of an insignificant looking 19-year-old student, Gavrilo Princip, in an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery next year.
It was Princip's assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June 1914 that set off a chain of event that led to the first world war. Having escaped a bomb attack, the car carrying the Austro-Hungarian leader in Sarajevo took a wrong turn and by chance passed Princip who was able to shoot the archduke and his wife at near point blank range. It was Princip's assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June 1914 that set off a chain of events that led to the first world war.
The Great War in Portraits, which will open in late February launching a four-year programme of commemorative exhibitions and events, will be one of the earliest events in the national commemoration. Loans from collections in Britain, Germany and the US will bring together formal portraits of generals, German expressionistic works, British and German films on the battle of the Somme, paintings of decorated heroes as well as images of prisoners of war and soldiers shot for cowardice or desertion. Having escaped a bomb attack, the car carrying the Austro-Hungarian leader in Sarajevo took a wrong turn and by chance passed Princip who was able to shoot the archduke and his wife at near point blank range.
There will be familiar faces including the soldier-poet Wilfred Owen, William Orpen's portrait of Winston Churchill and his self-portrait as a wary-eyed soldier. There will also be work by artists like Walter Sickert who were more interested in the impact on the lives of ordinary people than the pomp and circumstance of uniformed officers. The Tate is loaning a landmark piece of the 20th-century sculpture, Jacob Epstein's Rock Drill. The original version incorporated an actual piece of machinery, which the artist described as "the armed sinister figure of today and tomorrow". The Great War in Portraits, which will open in late February launching a four-year programme of commemorative exhibitions and events, will be one of the earliest events in the national commemoration.
Loans from collections in Britain, Germany and the US will bring together formal portraits of generals, German expressionistic works, British and German films on the battle of the Somme, paintings of decorated heroes as well as images of prisoners of war and soldiers shot for cowardice or desertion.
There will be familiar faces including the soldier-poet Wilfred Owen, William Orpen's portrait of Winston Churchill and his self-portrait as a wary-eyed soldier. There will also be work by artists like Walter Sickert who were more interested in the impact on the lives of ordinary people than the pomp and circumstance of uniformed officers.
The Tate is loaning a landmark piece of the 20th-century sculpture, Jacob Epstein's Rock Drill. The original version incorporated an actual piece of machinery, which the artist described as "the armed sinister figure of today and tomorrow".
Some of the faces are at most beyond recognition as human – Max Beckman's Hell: The Way Home, shows the artist greeting a mutilated returning soldier, and the beautiful but terrifying pastels by the surgeon and artist Henry Tonks record the terrible injuries of servicemen in need of pioneering plastic surgery.Some of the faces are at most beyond recognition as human – Max Beckman's Hell: The Way Home, shows the artist greeting a mutilated returning soldier, and the beautiful but terrifying pastels by the surgeon and artist Henry Tonks record the terrible injuries of servicemen in need of pioneering plastic surgery.
Curator Paul Moorhouse said the exhibition would explore a complex range of human experience: "It illuminates the way war was represented through portraits of individuals – each caught up in events beyond reason."Curator Paul Moorhouse said the exhibition would explore a complex range of human experience: "It illuminates the way war was represented through portraits of individuals – each caught up in events beyond reason."
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