The Great War: Printmakers of World War I and in the Trenches

World War I, when it began in 1914, was called the war to end all wars, the Great War. It was, at that time, the bloodiest conflict in history, involving more than thirty nations and costing more than seventeen million lives. It was a war fought in the trenches with machine guns and chemical weapons. For the first time in a conflict, war planes took to the skies and armed submarines lurked in the seas.

The stories and emotional impact of the war are documented in 37 prints by British and American artists from the Frank Raysor Collection, on loan from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Their works show scenes of combat in France, life on the home front in the US and the UK, as well as countries coming to terms with the aftermath of the war. To supplement the story, WKMA has collected memorabilia from the war—uniforms, weapons, mess kits—to give visitors a chance to imagine the lives of soldiers and civilians who lived during this violent and uncertain period of world history.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website