War artist

Vasily Vereshchagin. *The Apotheosis of War*. 1874.

A war artist, also known as a combat artist, captures the experience of war in an artistic manner whilst based in the battlefield. Unlike war poets, a war artist is almost always acting in an official capacity.

Famous war artists

Australian

The Australian tradition of war artists started with the First World War. Will Dyson, an expatriate Australian artist living in London petitioned the Australian government to allow him to travel to the Western Front where Australian forces were fighting. In 1917 he was finally granted permission to accompany the Australian Imperial Force and record their activities and thus became the first Australian official war artist. This scheme was expanded upon and other Australian artists were commissioned to undertake forays to the front lines to record their experiences of war.

At the same time, artists who had already enlisted and were fighting with the AIF, were appointed official war artists for the Australian Army.

During the Second World War, the Australian War Museum, later called the Australian War Memorial, continued the scheme and appointed war artists whilst the Australian Army, Royal Australian Navy and Royal Australian Air Force appointed their own official war artists from within their ranks.

Since the Second World War, the Australian War Memorial have assumed responsibility for the appointment of war artists who have depicted Australian forces in Korea, Vietnam, East Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq.

First World War
Second World War
Recent conflicts
- Rick Amor (East Timor Peacekeeping)
- Wendy Sharpe (East Timor Peacekeeping)
- Peter Churcher (2002 War on Terrorism)
- Lewis Miller (Iraq War 2003)
- George Gittoes

References

Famous war artists

Australian

British

Canadian

Japan

New Zealand

Spain

See also

References