Royal Holloway, University of London
Graduate Student, Media Arts
Thesis Title: Representations of the Western Front in Mass Culture and High Art, 1914-1918
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Chris Townsend
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About
I am interested in investigating the impact of the Great War, (1914-18 ), on modes of representation of young British artists who fought in the war. To what extent was the war a negative factor? For some, did their war experiences lead to a new creativity? To what extent did outside influences, such as the attitude of the press, affect their practice? My own background as a painter, will lead me into analyzing key original works and making comparisons pre and post war. How do these works read and what has changed?
I am currently researching Wyndham Lewis, an Official War Artist and combatant, whose short-lived Vorticism Movement was to bring to British art a new form of Modernism. I am also planning to analyze in depth the work of Paul Nash and David Bomberg, both Official War Artists, who fought in the Trenches in France.
