Memorial details

Memorial type
Painting / Print
District
Southwark
Town
Southwark
County
Greater London
Country
England
Commemoration
First World War (1914-1918)
Ceremony
  • Presented
    Date: 1919
    Attended by: Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson
Lost
Not lost
WM Reference
82029

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Current location

Item Reference ART 1921
Imperial War Museum
Lambeth Road
Southwark
Southwark
Greater London
SE1 6HZ
England

OS Grid Ref: TQ 31387 79095
Denomination: Undefined

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Description
The aftermath of a battle showing a muddy and flooded battlefield. A long line of wounded men, some with limbs bandaged, men carrying their comrades, straggling from right to left. Corpses lie in and around water-filled shell holes. Artillery pieces can be seen firing to the right of the composition, with a heavy pall of smoke and flames over the target area. Nevinson describes how he produced the sketches for this work during a trip to Passchendaele with a fellow officer: 'We arrived at Ypres, and while he went to the Officers' Club I wandered on up towards the Salient and obtained notes and rough sketches for my painting, 'Harvest of Battle'.' (CRW Nevinson, Paint and Prejudice, 1937) Nevinson provides his own description of this work in a letter to Alfred Yockney from the Ministry of Information on 11 June 1919 'A typical scene after an offensive at dawn. Walking wounded, prisoners and stretcher cases are making their way to the rear through the water- logged country of Flanders. By now the Infantry have advanced behind the creeping barrage on the right, only leaving the dead, mud, & wire; but their former positions are now occupied by the Artillery. The enemy is sending up SOS signals and once more these shattered men will be subjected to counter-battery fire. British aeroplanes are spotting hostile positions.' (Oil on canvas)
Inscription
[none]
Inscription legible?
yes
Commemorations
  • First World War (1914-1918)
    Total names on memorial: 0
    Served and returned: 0
    Died: 0
    Exact count: yes
    Information shown: Undefined
    Order of information: Undefined
Components
  • Painting
    Measurements: height 1828mm, width 3175mm
    Materials: Canvas, Paint - Oil
  • Frame
    Measurements: depth 75mm, height 2150mm, width 3505mm
    Materials: Wood
Listing information
Condition
Trust fund/Scholarship
No
Purpose: Unknown or N/A
Sponsorship
Public
Details: This painting was to feature in a Hall of Remembrance devoted to ‘fighting subjects, home subjects and the war at sea and in the air’. The centre of the scheme was to be a coherent series of paintings based on the dimensions of Uccello’s ‘Battle of San Romano’ in the National Gallery (72 x 125 inches), this size being considered suitable for a commemorative battle painting. While the commissions included some of the most avant-garde British artists of the time, the British War Memorials Committee advisors saw the scheme as firmly within the tradition of European art commissioning, looking to models from the Renaissance. It was intended that both the art and the setting would celebrate national ideals of heroism and sacrifice. However, the Hall of Remembrance was never built and the work was given to the Imperial War Museum
Reference

This record comprises all information held by IWM’s War Memorials Register for this memorial. Where we hold a names list for the memorial, this information will be displayed on the memorial record. Please check back as we are adding more names to the database.

This information is made available under a Creative Commons BY-NC licence.

This means you may reuse it for non-commercial purposes only and must attribute it to us using the following statement:

© WMR-82029

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