Poland: A Nation
Print
1917 (published)
1917 (published)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The Great War: Britain’s Efforts and Ideals was an ambitious project of artistic propaganda comprising sixty-six prints distributed by the British government in 1917. The aim was to stimulate public morale and support for the war effort.
Eighteen artists were commissioned, including Frank Brangwyn, Augustus John, Eric Kennington (an official war artist in both World Wars and sculptor of many war memorials), and C.R.W Nevinson. They were each assigned their subjects and had to work under strict censorship regulations.
Separated into two sets of portfolios titled ‘Ideals’ (12 prints) and ‘Efforts’ (54 prints) the former reinforced lofty goals such as The Triumph of Democracy, The Restoration of Serbia, and The Reconstruction of Belgium, while the latter illustrated key activities of the war effort such as munitions factories, women workers, training young soldiers, and agriculture in wartime.
Eighteen artists were commissioned, including Frank Brangwyn, Augustus John, Eric Kennington (an official war artist in both World Wars and sculptor of many war memorials), and C.R.W Nevinson. They were each assigned their subjects and had to work under strict censorship regulations.
Separated into two sets of portfolios titled ‘Ideals’ (12 prints) and ‘Efforts’ (54 prints) the former reinforced lofty goals such as The Triumph of Democracy, The Restoration of Serbia, and The Reconstruction of Belgium, while the latter illustrated key activities of the war effort such as munitions factories, women workers, training young soldiers, and agriculture in wartime.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Poland: A Nation (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Colour lithograph print |
| Brief description | 'The Soul of Poland' or 'Poland: A Nation' by Edmund Dulac, colour lithograph print from the series 'The Great War: Britain's Efforts and Ideals', 1917. |
| Physical description | Plate No. 3 from the print series 'Britain's Ideals: The Great War' |
| Credit line | Given by the Ministry of Information |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | The Great War: Britain’s Efforts and Ideals was an ambitious project of artistic propaganda comprising sixty-six prints distributed by the British government in 1917. The aim was to stimulate public morale and support for the war effort. Eighteen artists were commissioned, including Frank Brangwyn, Augustus John, Eric Kennington (an official war artist in both World Wars and sculptor of many war memorials), and C.R.W Nevinson. They were each assigned their subjects and had to work under strict censorship regulations. Separated into two sets of portfolios titled ‘Ideals’ (12 prints) and ‘Efforts’ (54 prints) the former reinforced lofty goals such as The Triumph of Democracy, The Restoration of Serbia, and The Reconstruction of Belgium, while the latter illustrated key activities of the war effort such as munitions factories, women workers, training young soldiers, and agriculture in wartime. |
| Associated object | CIRC.274-1919 (Duplicate) |
| Bibliographic reference | The following excerpt is by Stacey Clapperton for The University of Glasgow's World War One collections online exhibition in an article entitled 'Britain’s Efforts and Ideals in the Great War: The ‘Ideals’ as an obvious failure?', published July 30, 2014
'First exhibited at the Fine Art Society, London on 6th July 1917, Britain’s Efforts and Ideals in the Great War would later tour the country’s main cities before heading to New York and Los Angeles. When the show opened it was heralded as “the first concerted effort on the part of prominent British artists to do justice to the great theme offered by a proud and determined nation applying all its energy and resources to the achievement of final victory in a just cause.”[1] However the praise received was reserved for the Efforts series rather than the Ideals. The press believed that the 12 individual lithographs “on the whole do not attain to as high a level of excellence.”[2] They were “on the whole less successful”[3] and described as everything from “incomplete”, “disappointing”, “distorted” and “too exotic.”[4]
[1] P.G. Konody, ‘Art & Artists: “Britain’s Efforts and Ideals”’, The Observer, 8th July 1917, 5.
[2] ibid.
[3] ‘Britain’s Effort In Drawings’, The Times, 11 July 1917, 8.
[4] P.G. Konody, ‘Art & Artists: “Britain’s Efforts and Ideals”’, The Observer, 8th July 1917, 5. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.728-1918 |
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| Record created | June 30, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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