Author Description

The war art schemes, developed by the British government’s Department of Information during the First World War, were an unprecedented act of government sponsorship of the arts. As the schemes evolved, they ultimately explored every aspect of conflict, from the violence of warfare to hastened social and industrial change at home. The Imperial War Museum (IWM), established in 1917, was charged with collecting a wide variety of material documenting the war, including art. In addition to acquiring works produced under the Department of Information schemes, the museum also commissioned its own artists. In February 1918 the Department of Information became the Ministry of Information and established the British War Memorials Committee. This committee widened the scope of the war art schemes considerably by planning a Hall of Remembrance. This was to be a record and a memorial to the Great War through paintings commissioned from the best and, on occasion, the most avant-garde British artists of the day. However, lack of funding after the war meant the Hall of Remembrance was never built, and the collection of paintings was given to the Imperial War Museum. Pomegranate’s books of postcards contain up to thirty top-quality reproductions bound together in a handy, artful collection. Easy to remove and produced on heavy card stock, these stunning postcards are a delight to the sender and receiver. Postcards are oversized and may require additional postage.