The Canadian War Records Program was officially started in and, like its predecessor, drew candidates mainly from within the serving ranks. However, at the end of the War, Canada once again had no official war art program. Though keeping the same aim as previous war art projects, this new program allowed civilian artists to become involved; working alongside Canadian soldiers on both domestic and foreign operations. Unfortunately, this unique CF program was cancelled in , due to a lack of funds.
This new artistic endeavour would allow Canadian artists the opportunity to record Canada's soldiers in Canada and eventually around the world. These artists, all volunteers, will help usher in a new era of Canadian military art. HomecomingJohn Horton Navy In a pilot project allowed artists and administrators to test run the format and see how artists could best be integrated into the three services.
It went very well and in twenty-one individuals were selected to become the first official CFAP artists. A new competition every two years seeks more artists to experience the CFAP. While this program does not offer grants it does present other advantages to artists. The CFAP provides a range of unique opportunities to support the independent, creative work of professional Canadian artists of all cultures who wish to contribute to the history of the Canadian Forces.
This program is open to all form of art and artists, be it painters and sculptors to writers and poets. Please ensure, however, that examples of work do not exceed five 5 pages in length so that the application may be processed in a timely manner. It is the aim of the CFAP to allow artists from across Canada, working in various mediums, privileged access to capture the daily operations, personnel, and spirit of the Canadian Forces, as well as families and communities affected by Canadian military operations, allowing for a well documented vision of our past, present and future Armed Forces for the Canadian public to enjoy.
The works created by the artists as a result of their experience with the CFAP will remain the property of the artists. However, the CFAP will organize occasional tours and may ask artists if they would like to lend works for these tours fees usually paid to artists for exhibits would be waived for these tours.
There are no huge memorial compositions focussing on destruction, tragedy, and misery. Meanwhile, H. A number of artists had enlisted in the armed forces and, inspired by their knowledge of the First World War program, contacted McCurry to suggest they would be more useful as artists in uniform. McCurry in turn passed their offers to National Defence Headquarters. There, Colonel A. Duguid, director of the historical section of the general staff, proceeded to employ Private E.
Hughes and Sapper O. Fisher to depict activities in the army. In England, Massey arranged for Trooper W. Ogilvie to be attached to Canadian military headquarters as an artist. With the appointment in late of Major C. Convinced that this sort of endeavour was of certain historical value, Stacey, in early , was instrumental in formalizing the employment of Hughes, Fisher, and Ogilvie, and later Lawren P. Harris as war artists, and in obtaining for them the rank of second lieutenant. Despite these initiatives, not to mention the support of the Canadian art establishment as a whole, the first three years of the war were only minimally recorded.
Late in , the indefatigable Massey again tried to organize an official war art program. His request made it through the bureaucracy to the desk of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, who finally approved it. It was formally set up in January , and a committee consisting of H. McCurry and senior military personnel from the three services ran the program from Canada. In Britain, Massey was the guiding light; officers in the services handled the mechanics of the program.
It was a huge endeavour, the records of which contain hundreds of letters from service personnel, units, and newspapers requesting work or information, hundreds of notes written by staff officers regarding the movements of war artists, and file after file of war art listings, photographic records, and requests for loans. The thirty-one officers ultimately hired as official war artists were given rank, pay, supplies, and instructions.
They were divided almost evenly among the three services, and served in all the western theatres of war including Britain, Italy, Northwest Europe, and the Atlantic Ocean. The army was quick off the mark, initially having the largest number of artists in the field, followed by the air force. The navy program was the last one to be put in place. The program of work the artists followed differed very little from hat of their First World War predecessors. They specified the size and quantity of their paintings as well as their subjects.
Notable Canadian war artists have included A. Jackson , F. From its inception in to its conclusion in , the Fund hired more than artists of British, Australian, Yugoslavian, Belgian and Canadian nationality. None of the roughly 1, works recording the farm and factory workers on the home front and the war-torn landscape of France and Flanders were exhibited during hostilities. Canada had been one of the first countries to establish a war art program.
As a result, it had produced a visual record of the war that was second to none. And A. But the value of the Canadian War Memorials Fund lay not only in the collection of works assembled. The whole experience of painting the landscape in France and Flanders; of viewing the war scenes produced by British modernists; and of having some involvement with major art critics, patrons and gallery officials, was a crucial factor in elevating the art of the Group of Seven and its followers to national status.
The Fund not only gave Canadians a memorial of their participation in the war; it also gave Canadian art and artists an important place within the cultural framework of inter-war Canada.
The Second World War broke out in the autumn of Yet Canada did not have an official war art program in effect until The program came under the jurisdiction of the Department of National Defence. This time, only Canadian artists serving in the armed forces were employed.
See also Documenting the Second World War. Only 32 artists were given war artist commissions. Paintings were exhibited during the war — sometimes directly behind fighting operations.
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