As I was finishing up with this tour of the Forever Changed exhibit at the War Museum, other things caught my eyes. The numbers speak for themselves: of a population of 11.5 million, nearly one in ten Canadians served in the war, and millions more worked as part of the war effort.
I had missed this painting during my time in the European theatre. Charles Comfort painted The Hitler Line in 1944. He was embedded with troops as a war artist, and saw battle at close quarters in that capacity, including the breaking of the so called Hitler Line in Italy.
Two last looks at the exhibition. This continues into September, so if you are in the area, it is well worth taking in.
The numbers say so much, again: nearly one in ten killed or wounded in service.
I departed from the exhibition. As I mentioned early on in the series, I made this visit after my second vaccination, and I was feeling rather out of it, so decided to cut the visit short. There were things I wanted to see before I went though: Regeneration Hall and Lebreton Gallery. Regeneration Hall is the large angular spike rising up out of the museum and pointing towards Parliament Hill. A large painting hangs at the upper level. Sacrifice is by Charles Sims, painted around 1918.
Down below, illuminated by the vertical shaft of glass, are several plaster sculptures, all allegorical figures. These are the majority of the half-scale models used by Walter Allward in his creation of the monumental Vimy Ridge memorial in France, honouring the Canadians who fought to take that place during the First World War. We will continue here tomorrow.
Incredible sculpture!
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to see the war from your side.
ReplyDeleteWe get Hit#er every Sunday on TV and ask people my age and older, seemingly this was all we "learned" at school in history-lessons as well. The "war-guilt" is big on my generation still.
My parents were little kids back then. My Grandparents not involved, maternal side not even German.
Sorry, needed to say this.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteSobering exhibit, the sculptures are beautiful.
Take care, have a happy new week!
War changes forever the lives of those it touches.
ReplyDeleteEstou a gostar desta exposição.
ReplyDeleteUm abraço e bom Domingo.
Andarilhar
Dedais de Francisco e Idalisa
Livros-Autografados
My grandfather, whom I never knew, was too old to fight in WWII but was badly affected by what he saw as he helped with the rescue and clearing up operations around the bombed out areas of London. It's only in recent years that I've realised that one or two of the teachers who taught me may well have been badly affected by their war experiences and maybe their erratic behaviour was tolerated by their colleagues who were aware of their stories.
ReplyDeleteIt must be a powerful exhibit in person.
ReplyDeleteThe war artists do incredible work. There must be horrible experiences involved in that work!
ReplyDelete...now in the US, only a very small percentage serve in the military.
ReplyDelete@Linda: very much so.
ReplyDelete@Iris: war is complicated.
@Eileen: thank you.
@Gemel: that it does.
@Francisco: thanks.
@John: quite likely.
@Jennifer: it is indeed.
@Marie: definitely.
@Tom: similar here.
A world war is a never-ending tragedy.
ReplyDeleteInstead of sending millions of men playing soldiers and die, I think it would be far better to put all the politicians who hide behind their desks go in a box ring and fight ! Then we could see better who wins! without loosing so many humans !
ReplyDeleteOur museums have many exhibits which tell about the wars and reminds us how much effort went into fighting wars.
ReplyDeleteIt was a great tour of the exhibit, William.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't realized that our population was so low then.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty impressed you did this trip right after your vaccination shot. Well done. I've really appreciated this series, William.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes wonder what the world would be like if Hitler had never existed.
ReplyDeleteThe artwork enhances the exhibit.
ReplyDeleteYou really showed us a lot of the exhibition.
ReplyDelete@Italiafinlandia: indeed.
ReplyDelete@Gattina: or at least high stakes poker.
@Red: as should be the case.
@RedPat: a pleasure doing so.
@Anvilcloud: it was indeed.
@Jeanie: later that day I felt awful.
@Sharon: I imagine there would have been someone else in his place.
@Maywyn: I agree.
@Marleen: there was much to see.
The sculptures are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
I thought so.
DeleteThank you for your work here. War is hell for all.
ReplyDeleteIndeed.
DeleteWonderful pieces of art. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome.
DeleteThank you for sharing this. Glad you're vaccinated
ReplyDeleteAs am I.
DeleteWell done on being vaccinated, the only side effects I had here was a slightly sore arm.
ReplyDeleteI had the sore arm the first time. This time it was the sore arm and a state of total exhaustion.
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