Art

1. Ruins on the Western Front

a snow-covered landscape with a road curving through it to the right, with two figures walking along the road in the distance. In the left and right foreground are heaps of wood and masonry, the ruins of destroyed buildings. In the centre middle ground are the ruins of a large house and a smaller building.
Image: IWM (Art.IWM ART 17281)

Snow-Covered Ruins on the Western Front, 1919, by W F C Holden.

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Art

2. The Asiago Plateau, Italy

a view of the Asiago Plateau in the Italian Alps. The ground is completely covered by snow, with a single wooden cross marking a grave in the left foreground. There are several small rocky ledges in the foreground and many trees in the middle distance, including a dense forest towards the left. On the horizon are the slopes and peaks of the mountains.
© IWM (Art.IWM ART 2455)
© The rights holder (Art.IWM ART 2455)

A View on the Asiago Plateau, Looking West, by Gerald S Hervey.

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Art

3. The Dockyard in Rosyth

A winter scene set in Rosyth dockyard. A crowd of sailors cross the snow on the ground, leaving the warship moored at the quay in the background. From behind the power station on the left of the compositon, three searchlight beams cast bright strips of light up into the grey sky.
Image: © IWM (Art.IWM ART 1354)

A Corner of the Dockyard, Rosyth: Winter, 1918, by Charles Pears.

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Art

4. Transport Trucks on the Western Front

a view across a snow-covered winter landscape, with a line of bare trees running across the foreground. Further back a line of evenly spaced British transport trucks drive along a road from right to left, with some hills in the background.
Image: IWM (Art.IWM ART 206)

Transport in the Winter, by J B Morrall.

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Art

5. Refugees : '...pray ye that your flight be not in the winter...' Matt XXIV 20

Image: IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 5846)

Refugees: '...Pray Ye That Your Flight Be Not in the Winter...' Matt XXIV 20,1945, by Mary Kessell

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Art

6. A VAD Convoy, Italy : a car skidding in the snow on a mountain

Image: IWM (Art.IWM ART 3086)

A VAD Convoy, Italy: A Car Skidding in the Snow on a Mountain, by Olive Mudie-Cooke

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Art

7. Artillery Drivers on the Italian Front

Four artillery drivers in shirt sleeves, sharing a bucket of water and washing. The ground is covered with snow and Red Cross ambulances are parked in the woodland to the upper left of the composition.
© IWM (Art.IWM ART 2003)

Artillery Drivers in the Snow, Italian Front, 1914, by A Neville Lewis.

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Art

8. HMS Courageous at Rosyth

A view along the length of the Royal Navy battlecruiser HMS Courageous in dry dock at Rosyth, with the stern of the warship in the foreground. The ship is supported within the dry dock by large wooden struts. The flat surfaces of the ship and of the surrounding docks and buildings are covered with snow. There is a large crane on the dockside to the right.
Image: © IWM (Art.IWM ART 633)

HMS Courageous in Dry Dock, at Rosyth. Winter., 1919, by Charles Pears.

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Art

9. Over the Italian Alps

an aerial view of Camel Scout biplanes in flight over the Italian Alps. Two biplanes fly in the centre foreground against a bank of pink, yellow and white cloud, from which emerges a tall snow-capped mountain peak. In the background there are six further aircraft in flight. The River Piave and its green valley can be seen through the cloud in the lower part of the composition.
Image: IWM (Art.IWM ART 4488)

Camel Scouts on Patrol, 1918, by Sydney Carline.

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Art

10.An ATS Camp at Tuxford, Notts

Image: © IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 5994)

AN ATS Camp at Tuxford, Notts, 1958, by Beatrice Lithiby

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Art

11. Long Hope, Orkney

A coastal scene with shipping visible in the distance and a building in the foreground. The land by the coast is covered in snow and there are small figures visible in the foreground.
Image: © IWM (Art.IWM ART 1255)

Long Hope, 1917. Orkney., by John Lavery.

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Art

12. Alexandra Palace, London

a view of Alexandra Palace in the snow with prisoners sliding down the hill outside and throwing snowballs, while guards in greatcoats patrol along the bottom of the hill.
© The rights holder (Art.IWM ART 17082)

Deep Over-Night Fallen Snow, 1916, by George Kenner.

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Art

13.Bomb Devastation: Haberdashers' Aske's School, Acton

Image: IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 1835)

Bomb Devastation: Haberdashers' Aske's School, Acton, 1942, by Anne F Wilson

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Art

14. France

A scene showing distribution of rations among British soldiers billeted in a ruined farmhouse. A horse-drawn cart is delivering the rations in the left foreground. Some women are mingling with the soldiers, one holding a large basket. A woman is ploughing a field in upper left background. There is snow on the ground, and the roofs of buildings, and most of the figures wear long overcoats.
© IWM (Art.IWM ART 4664)
Image: IWM (Art.IWM ART 4664)

In Billets, Winter: Rations Up, 1921, by Herbert A Budd.

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A series of figures, with only their heads and shoulders visible, are gathered together at a dockside with a warship recently returned from the Falklands looming over them in the background. There is a coffin covered with a British Union Jack flag amongst them, juxtaposed with the hands of some of the figures making victory signs. In the centre, a soldier and a woman kiss and embrace after being reunited. They are surrounded by the heads of eight other people.
© IWM Art.IWM ART (16248)
Arts and Culture

8 Powerful Works From Our Contemporary Art Collection

Since the mid 1970s IWM has collected and commissioned contemporary artists' personal, political and conceptual responses to conflict. This has resulted in a diverse and challenging collection of artwork, the highlights of which are brought together in a new book, Art from Contemporary Conflict.

An unnaturally bright sun blazes over a landscape with a river. There is an aircraft flying over the desert in the lower right of the composition.
© IWM Art.IWM ART (4623)
First World War

Stunning Aerial Artwork Of The First World War

Brothers Sydney and Richard Carline were employed as official war artists by the Imperial War Museum during the First World War, each tasked with documenting aerial warfare. Between 1918 and 1920, the brothers produced dozens of artworks recording views over the Western Front, the Italian Front and the Middle East.

Quick read 12 Paintings Of Life Along The Western Front 1. A Street in Arras A Street in Arras, 1918, by John Singer Sargent. A Street in Arras, 1918, by John Singer Sargent. Art.IWM ART 1607 A Street in Arras, 1918, by John Singer Sargent. Scottish infantrymen rest against the exterior wall of a shell-damaged building in Arras. 2. Oppy Wood Oppy Wood, 1917. Evening, 1918, by John Nash. Oppy Wood, 1917. Evening, 1918, by John Nash.
© IWM Art.IWM ART (2243)
Western Front

12 Paintings Of Life Along The Western Front

Discover 12 paintings depicting life along the Western Front by a selection of artists. Including insightful works by John Singer Sargent, John Nash, Paul Nash, Henry Tonks and William Orpen. 

Visiting artist, Gareth Reid, finding out about war artists John and Paul Nash and sketching in the IWM mock trench
© IWM
First World War

How did artists sketch in the trenches during the First World War?

The art that emerged from the First World War provided a window into all corners of the conflict. We invited professional artist Gareth Reid, winner of Sky Arts' Portrait Artist of the Year, to visit IWM London to find out more about war artists and to produce several sketches in a reproduction trench, inspired by artists who worked near the front line.