Royal Academy Exhibition of 1919

Fitting Out, Mousehole Harbour by Stanhope Forbes

The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1919 was the hundred and fifty thirst annual Summer Exhibition of the British Royal Academy of Arts which was held at Burlington House in London's Piccadilly from 5 May to 9 August 1919. It was the first to held following the end of fighting in the First World War the previous November, although the formal peace talks continued Paris Peace Conference. It attracted more than 200,000 visitors.[1]

One of the largest and most celebrated works on display was Gassed, a very large painting by the Anglo-American artist John Singer Sargent which showed the aftermath of a mustard gas attack on the Western Front. The work was commissioned by the British War Memorials Committee and now hangs in the Imperial War Museum.[2] Singer Sargent also displayed another work showing Arras Cathedral which had suffered heavily in the fighting. His more typical portraits included one of Woodrow Wilson, the President of the United States. Alfred Munnings who produced a large number of war paintings, returned to landscape paintings and other peaceful scenes. John Lavery displayed a painting of the ballroom at Londonderry House which had been converted into a wartime hospital[3] as well as pictures commemorating the surrender of the Imperial German Navy on HMS Queen Elizabeth at Rosyth.

Other works on display were Cocaine by Alfred Priest[4] and Fitting Out, Mousehole Harbour by the Irish artist Stanhope Forbes continued the pre-war tradition of the Newlyn School with a scene on the Cornish Coast.[5] The former President of the Royal Academy Edward Poynter exhibited a portrait of Edward VII he had produced a decade earlier. James Jebusa Shannon likewise displayed a pre-war portrait of the actress Marie Lohr. Frederick William Elwell's picture of the kitchen of The Beverley Arms in Yorkshire was acquired by the Chantrey Bequest.[6] George Fiddes Watt showed a portrait of Arthur Balfour, the former Prime Minister.[7]

References

Bibliography

  • Bedell, Rebecca Moved to Tears: Rethinking the Art of the Sentimental in the United States. Princeton University Press, 2018.
  • Fox, Caroline & Greenacre, Francis. Painting in Newlyn, 1880-1930. Barbican Art Gallery, 1985.
  • Lomax, James & Ormond, Richard. John Singer Sargent and the Edwardian Age. Leeds Art Galleries, 1979.
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