Breakthrough is a major re-hang of the Imperial War Museum’s outstanding collection of British art. The display incorporates important artworks from the official art schemes of both world wars and significant non-official and contemporary works. The Government schemes selected some of the most avant-garde artists of the day to respond to war, and the Museum continues, in this tradition, to collect and commission the very best contemporary artists responding to current events.

Among the items on display will be work by some of the most important British artists of the last century including Paul Nash, CRW Nevinson, Henry Moore, John Piper and Eric Ravilious, as well as a changing selection of contemporary works by artists such as Langlands and Bell, Colin Self, and Paul Seawright.

UPDATE:

Stretcher-Bearer! Aiding the Wounded on the Western Front

Until 15 November 2010

Stretcher-Bearer! Aiding the Wounded on the Western Front is a small new art display which focuses on the Royal Army Medical Corps during the First World War. British artists were commissioned to record the experiences of medical aid personnel during the conflict, and a rich collection of these images appears in Stretcher-Bearer!

Works by artists Austin Osman Spare and John Hodgson Lobley, who travelled to France to witness treatment of the wounded, is hung alongside portraits and large oils of field-work by Gilbert Rogers and Haydn Mackey. Drawings of hospitals in converted schools, hotels and country houses by Walter Spradbery offer a contrast to the ruined locations of the Western Front. 

More work by local artist Austin Osman Spare is on display from 14 September to 13 November 2010 at the nearby Cuming Museum, 151 Walworth Road, London SE17 1RY.

Admission free