WW2-art

Until 24th November

This exhibition brings together Bolton’s collection of Second World War art. Most of the drawings and paintings were done by artists who worked for the government through The War Artists Advisory Committee.

The Committee commissioned artists to record war in all its aspects. This could range from the front line overseas to the efforts that civilians made on the home front.

Included in this show are two wonderful works by Henry Moore, generously lent by The Henry Moore Foundation. These drawings were created during the early stages of the Blitz in London, when thousands of Londoners sought shelter in the tube stations.

Alongside these works are a group of photographs taken in Bolton. These show the aftermath and the devastation wreaked by an air raid in 1941.

People at a Canteen, Bolton 12-13th October 1941

Black and white photographs taken by C. E. Willis of Bolton

These people had been bombed out of their homes at Punch Street, Ardwick Street and the surrounding area. They had been taken to this canteen for food and shelter and you can clearly see that most are quite exhausted and some have minor injuries. If any visitor can identify these people, please contact the Curator of Local History.

Food Canteen at Punch Street, Bolton, 12-13 October 1941

Black and white photograph taken by C. E. Willis of Bolton

These pictures show the men, who were working to rescue people, clear the street and salvage goods from the bombed houses receiving a meal from the mobile canteen.

Nowadays, rescue workers and labourers would all be issued with protective clothing, but as you can see these men had nothing other than reasonably stout shoes to protect themselves from the sharp and dangerous materials around them.

Troops marching inland from the beaches, 1944

Thomas B. Hennell (1903-45)
Pen and ink on paper

Hennell was an official war artist during the Second World War. He was sent to Iceland in 1943, France and Holland in 1944-5, and India and Burma in 1945.

He was captured in November 1945 by Indonesian terrorists in Batavia and presumed killed.

Maquette for TUC War Memorial, 1955

Jacob Epstein (1880-1959)
Bronze

Epstein was an American-born sculptor who settled in England in 1905 and became a British citizen in 1911. His work was inspired by ancient and primitive sculpture as well as the early work of Picasso.

From the 1920’s he devoted himself more and more to bronze portrait busts, with many famous figures including Albert Einstein and George Bernard Shaw sitting for him.

15 inch Gun Turret, HMS Repulse, August 1941

Barnett Freedman (1901-1958)
Lithograph

Barnett Freedman worked as a sign-writer, stonemason's and architect's assistant before attending evening classes at St Martins Art School from 1916-1922, and later at the Royal College of Art, where he studied under Sir William Rothenstein. In 1930, Freedman joined the RCA staff as an instructor in still life, and also taught at the Ruskin School of drawing in Oxford.