World War One: Pictures

There are hundreds of different types of images from the Great War, created using a wide range of media; painting, portraiture, photographs, postcards, cartoons, movies, etc. Other images were commissioned by Governments, such as propaganda posters or "war art".

Paul Nash  "The Menin Road"  1919

WEBSITES:

Colorado College (Tutt Library).  World War One Poster Collection Guide

University of South Carolina. Joseph M. Bruccoli Great War Collection: Posters

University of Washington. War Poster Collection

U.S. Navy. U.S. Navy Recruiting Posters, World War I

University of South Carolina: Joseph M. Bruccoli Great War Collection: Postcards

UNC Chapel Hill: World War I Postcards from the Bowman Gray Collection

BOOKS:

James, P. (2009). Picture this: World War I posters and visual culture.
940.31 J23pi 2009 3rd floor.

Rickards, M., Moody, M., & Imperial War Museum (1975).  The First World War: Ephemera, mementoes, documents.        
940.3 R42fi 1975  3rd floor.

British Recruiting Poster, 1914

In 1918, the British Ministry of Information established a British War Memorial Committee. The aim of this group was to create a lasting record of the war, as well as a memorial to those who had fought and died in the land, sea and air wars, as well as in the “war at home”. Henry Tonks was an accomplished artist, as well as a doctor; he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps. These two skills were combined in his 1918 painting of An advanced medical dressing station, where he depicts the horrors and realities of treating injured men close to the front lines.

Other artists such as Wyndham Lewis, Paul Nash, William Orpen, Charles Simms and Stanley Spencer would go on to leave a permanent record of WWI in their art. Many more humble sketches and paintings survive, drawn by fighting men, wanting to memorialize friends, lovers, conflicts and comrades.

Henry Tonks  "An advanced medical dressing station" 1918