Wartime Paintings in London

Suzanne Bardgett Head of Research at the Imperial War Museum will talk about the research for Wartime London in Painting, her book about the Imperial War Museum’s paintings of London commissioned during the Second World War which was published last year. The works were purchased or commissioned by the War Artists Advisory Committee, chaired by Kenneth Clark, and they provide a new visual history of London at that perilous time.

Suzanne will describe how many of the artists encountered the war in a very immediate sense as firemen, fire-watchers or nurses. Their letters to the committee – also held by the museum - document their responses to the extraordinary sights the war produced. Evelyn Dunbar, Frank Dobson, Ruskin Spear, Carel Weight and Charles Ginner are among the artists whose work will be discussed.