Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/augustus-john-om-1362" aria-label="More by Augustus John OM" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Augustus John OM</a>
A Canadian Soldier
Purchased 1941
adults
Canadian
clothing and personal items
gun, rifle
helmet
history
man
military
military: World War I
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Western Front
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<p>In 1917 Augustus John accepted an honorary commission in the Canadian Overseas Military Forces to work as a war artist for the Canadian War Memorials Fund. He worked in France until 1918 and was given free rein to paint what he liked on the Western Front.</p><p>This oil study of a Canadian soldier is one of a series of sketches that John made in preparation for a large-scale composition of the mining district of Lens, crowded with troops, stretcher-bearers and refugees. The forty-foot canvas was never finished but he completed an exact miniature cartoon for the subject in 1918.</p><p><em>Gallery label, July 2008</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
12 January 2002 – 15 September 2002
2002-09-15
22 June 2001 – 15 September 2002
2002-09-15
2001-06-22
Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales (Cardiff, UK)
12 January 2002 – 17 March 2002
2002-03-17
2002-01-12
Museum voor Schone Kunsten (Ghent, Belgium)
http://www.gent.be/
30 March 2002 – 2 June 2002
2002-06-02
2002-03-30
Hannema-de Stuers Fundatie
2002-01-12
Art in Exile- Flanders, Wales and the First World War
Loan-out
A Canadian Soldier
support: 730 × 540 mm
Purchased 1941
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<span class="text7">In 1917 Augustus John accepted an honorary commission      in the Canadian Overseas Military Forces to work as a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/w/war-artists" title="Glossary definition for 'War Artists'"><span>war </span></a></span><span class="text14">artist for the Canadian War Memorials Fund.</span><span class="text7"> He worked in France until 1918 and was given free rein      to paint what he liked on the Western Front. </span>
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<div class="pbodytext">
<span class="text7">This oil study of a Canadian soldier is one of a series      of sketches that John made in preparation for a large-scale <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> of      the mining district of Lens, crowded </span><span class="text14">with      troops, stretcher-bearers and refugees.</span><span class="text7"> The      forty-foot canvas was never finished but he completed an exact <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/miniature" title="Glossary definition for 'Miniature'"><span>miniature</span></a>      cartoon for the subject in 1918. </span>
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2008-07-30T00:00:00
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<p><b>N05268</b> A CANADIAN SOLDIER 1918
<br/> 
<br/>Not inscribed.
<br/>Canvas, 28 3/4×21 1/4 (73×54).
<br/>Purchased from Arthur Tooth &amp; Sons (Knapping Fund) 1941.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> Alpine Club Gallery, March 1920 (17 or 18, repr. as frontispiece); Sheffield, August–October 1956 (40).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> John, 1952, pp.124–8.
<br/><i>Repr:</i> <i>Apollo</i>, XX, 1934, p.165; Rothenstein, 1944, pl.34; Allan Gwynne-Jones, <i>Portrait Painters</i>, 1950, pl.137.</p>
<p>This picture is one of many <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> of Canadian soldiers which John executed at the end of the 1914–18 war.</p>
<p>At the beginning of the 1914–18 war John was considered unfit for military service (he had damaged his knee while mule jumping in Ireland), and it was not until the end of 1917 that he obtained a commission under Lord Beaverbrook as Official Artist to Canadian War Records. The artist was given the rank of Major and was sent to France where he was posted to the Canadian sector, which stretched from Béthune to Arras. John toured round this area making notes, and it was in a large house at Aubigny that he drew and painted his soldiers. It was also during this time that John collected material for the decoration of the Canadian War Memorial in Toronto. The latter was never built, and only the large cartoon which John drew in preparation for the painting survives; it was sold at Christie's, 20 July 1962 (184, repr.).</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, I
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Catalogue entry
2004-10-07T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults Canadian clothing and personal items gun, rifle helmet history man military military: World War I nationality objects people society soldier weapons Western Front work and occupations