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Augustus John Goes To War: 1917-18
“ A great man of action into whose hands the fairies had placed a paintbrush instead of a sword…”
Artist William Orpen had been in France since the spring of 1917, creating some extraordinarily moving art, and was initially overjoyed to see his fellow Slade student, Augustus John, turn up rigged out as a Canadian Major.
“ John is having a great time!”
The darling of London society — as John was then — had arrived at the Canadian Divisional HQ followed by a phalanx of photographers determined to follow his every move, but by the time of his arrival in early 1918, there was already talk of a massive German offensive which sent the photographers scurrying back to London.
Augustus John had been trying to become a war artist since early 1917 without success. By this time the rule was that artists had to be called up to serve in the normal way, like everyone else, only then could they, if thought suitable, be assigned as war artists. John, whose position as Britain’s leading artist (much to the disgust of fellow artist Jacob Epstein), was made exempt from conscription, consequently exempt from becoming a war artist. His insistence that he wanted…
