The War Museum

My first stop on Canada Day was at the Canadian War Museum, where it was raining when I arrived (fortunately the rain let up by the time I left). The Museum re-located its collection to this spot west of the city core in 2005. The architecture resembles a bunker, or a bomber plane, depending on your perspective, and tells the story of Canadian military history from the earliest times to the modern day, both here and on the global stage, while also regularly staging temporary exhibits.

There is a temporary exhibit inside, Vimy: Beyond The Battle, concentrating on the commemoration of war dead, running until after Remembrance Day. This painting, which I haven't seen in several years, has been in the museum's vaults for some time, and was the first thing to greet the visitor stepping inside. William Longstaff painted Ghosts Of Vimy Ridge in 1931, several years before the memorial to the First World War battle was complete. His work dramatically lights up the memorial at night, with ghosts rising up from the shattered landscape. This was a theme in several of his paintings.

These are temporary crosses placed at graves at Vimy after the battle. Later the War Graves Commission would establish proper grave markers.

Walter Allward designed and oversaw the work on the Vimy Ridge Memorial. At his studio, he had created numerous slightly larger than life plaster casts that would be featured on the Memorial in their full scale. Those sculptures, depicting allegorical figures, are part of the War Museum's collection, and usually can be found in Regeneration Hall. Some of them had been moved over here for the exhibit.

A photograph on a display showed the poppies at the Tower of London display from 2014. Some of those ceramic poppies were in the display case alongside it.

This formal portrait was hanging here too. Lt.-Colonel Thain MacDowell is a painting by British war artist Harold Knight, depicting a young Canadian captain who received the Victoria Cross (and a promotion) for his bravery and leadership during the Battle Of Vimy Ridge.

This was a different work of art by Sarah Hatton, depicting the constellations above Vimy Ridge on the night of April 12th, 1917. I've included its explanatory panel with it.

I have more from this exhibit tomorrow, but I'll leave off with a panel depicting the finished sculptures on the Memorial itself.