Yale Bulletin
and Calendar

June 21-July 19, 1999Volume 27, Number 34




























Exhibit recalls art and poetry
inspired by the Great War

The indelible impact of World War I on the individuals who fought in it will be explored in two exhibitions opening on Tuesday, June 22, at the Yale Center for British Art.

"'Doomed Youth': The Poetry and Pity of The First World War" looks at how "soldier poets" depicted life and death on the Western Front, while "John Walker: A Theater of Recollection and the Anthony and Madeleine Carter Gift" features works by the contemporary artist that are based on the stories and memories of his father, who fought in the Great War. Both shows will continue through Sunday, Sept. 26.

In the four years of the Great War, 1914-18, nine million soldiers died in active service. Almost 5.5 million Allied soldiers were killed, including 723,000 British servicemen -- or 6.5 percent of Britain's entire adult male population at the time.

"The war had three major fronts," explains Elisabeth Fairman, curator of rare books and archives at the British Art Center, who organized the "Doomed Youth" exhibit, "but it was the particular hell of the Western Front -- the deadly series of trenches that snakes from the coast of Belgium through France to the border of Switzerland -- that was the most disastrous.

"One in eight of the British soldiers who served at the Western Front died," she notes. "It was there, in the flat countryside of Belgium ('in Flanders fields') and in France, that the rival armies settled in for nearly four years of devastating trench warfare: the German Army on one side and the Allied French, Belgian and British Armies (and the Americans from 1918) on the other. The war was fought out of ditches dug in the ruined earth by muddy, anonymous masses of men, at places whose names still echo today: Verdun, Ypres and the Somme."

At the core of "'Doomed Youth': The Poetry and Pity of the First World War" are poems and memoirs reflecting a range of moods about The Great War -- from the early sentimentality and patriotic ardor of Rupert Brooke to the cynicism and angry depiction of life in the trenches by such "soldier poets" as Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves, Isaac Rosenberg, David Jones and others. The first editions and manuscripts were borrowed from private collections and the libraries at Yale.

The show includes official government recruiting posters from the early years of the war, as well as a selection of the British Art Center's prints, drawings and paintings that provide a backdrop to the poetry and memoirs. The exhibit also looks at civilian life in Britain during the war, as well as the roles played by women on the home front and at the battlefield.

A video showing original newsreel footage of action at the Western Front will be shown continuously in the exhibition itself, along with regular showings of "The Battle of the Somme" (1916), the first war documentary ever made. Visitors will also be able to hear selections of popular music sung in the trenches, reminiscences of World War I veterans and readings from some of the texts shown in the exhibit.


"A Theater of Recollection"

In nearly every British village or city, there is at least one memorial commemorating the soldiers who lost their lives during World War I.

Contemporary British painter John Walker created his own war memorial on canvas in the series "A Theater of Recollection." The paintings, done between 1996 and 1997, are based on the wartime recollections of Walker's father, who fought in the Great War, and are now part of a touring exhibition organized by the Boston University Art Gallery in association with Pamela Auchincloss Arts Management.

The arrival of the touring exhibit at the British Art Center coincides with the unveiling of a gift of Walker's paintings recently donated to the museum by Anthony and Madeline Carter, longtime friends and patrons of the artist.

Thanks to the Carters' gift, the British Art Center now owns paintings from each decade of Walker's career. The donation includes three paintings and 14 drawings documenting the artist's work over the past 30 years. It is the largest contribution of contemporary art ever received by the British Art Center, and gives the Yale museum the most extensive and comprehensive collection of Walker's works in any public museum in the United States.

Walker first gained wide recognition in 1960s with a one-man show at the Hayward Gallery in 1968. He belonged to the new generation of British artists of that decade who had an international impact in painting and sculpture.

"John Walker has always been a strongly autobiographical painter," says Patrick McCaughey, director of the British Art Center. "His family, loves, relationships and immediate experience of his environment all play an important role in his art."


International Festival events

The center will host a number of free public programs during the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, which will be held in New Haven June 18-July 3. These include:

* A talk titled "Imaginings of the Great War" by Jay Winter of Cambridge University, a noted World War I scholar, on Tuesday, June 22, at 4 p.m.

* A poetry reading of works by war poets by Patrick McCaughey, on Wednesday, June 23, at 4 p.m.

* A concert featuring art songs of composers who served and died in the Great War juxtaposed with popular tunes sung in the trenches, on Thursday, June 24, at 6 p.m.

* A film series featuring such classics as "All Quiet on the Western Front," "Grand Illusion," "Oh, What a Lovely War," "Paths of Glory" and "Gallipoli," June 25-July 3, screening times vary; see Calendar.

The Yale Center for British Art, located at 1080 Chapel St., is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free, and the building is wheelchair-accessible. For more information, call 432-2800 or visit the center's web site at www.yale.edu/ycba.


T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Alumni elect Roland W. Betts as new trustee
To the Yale Community
Murder on the Nile? Examination suggests Peabody mummy met with . . .
Study shows quality of child care affects school performance
Endowed Professorships
Literary critic Harold Bloom awarded Gold Medal . . .
Academy of Arts and Sciences taps three Yale faculty
Exhibit recalls art and poetry inspired by the Great War
Downtown program will add local flavor to International Festival . . .
Show by Peabody artists among Yale-related events during festival
Boredom with board games prompts Green to invent new one
Beinecke Library acquires papers of noted theater director
The University honors its long-serving staff members
Three Yale teachers are selected as Guggenheim Fellows
Schell Center for International Human Rights announces new appointments . . .
Traveling fellowships are awarded for students' research
Downs Fellows to study health issues around the world during the summer
Students make cross-country trek on behalf of charity
Summer Cabaret marks 25th year of 'ambitious theater'
Tours of historic Grove Street Cemetery are being offered
How to order extra copies of the Yale Bulletin & Calendar
Campus Notes


Bulletin Home|Visiting on Campus|Calendar of Events| Bulletin Board
Classified Ads|Search Archives|Production Schedule|Bulletin Staff
Public Affairs Home|News Releases|E-Mail Us|Yale Home Page