Combat Gallery Sunday : The Martial Art of Richard Jack
Much as once a week I like to take time off to cover warships (Wednesdays), on Sunday, I like to cover military art and the painters, illustrators, sculptors, and the like that produced them.
Combat Gallery Sunday : The Martial Art of Richard Jack
Richard Jack, though born in Sunderland, England, in 1866, was Canada’s first official war artist.
In the late 19th Century he studied at a number of esteemed art schools including the York School of Art, the South Kensington Art School, the ARA, the Royal College of Art and the Académie Julian— almost all on academic scholarships for his submitted work.
Returning to London from the Julian, he became first a black and white illustrator for Cassells and other periodicals then switched to painting, winning silver medals for his work before the Great War.
The Passing of the Chieftain by Richard Jack, York Museums Trust. Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation
Pushing 50 when Word War I began and not having a military background, he still did his part and took to sketching soldiers passing through.
The Return to the Front Victoria Railway Station, by Richard Jack, 1916, via the York Museums, on display in Lincolnshire. Trust Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation
These were subsequently published and brought him the attention of the Canadian governor general’s office, who extended an offer in 1916 to commission Jack as the official war artist to cover Canadian exploits in the war to end all wars.
Heading to the Western Front as a Major, Canadian Forces, Jack took to his work in covering the heroic stand by the Canadians at Second Ypres for posterity. Unlike the British government commissions, which encouraged a modernist approach to war, the Canadians wanted Jack to produce recognizable ‘history’ paintings as realistic as possible– and he did, controversially including bodies of the broken and dying.
Though, naturally, not actually present at the fighting, Major Jack had carefully investigated and sketched the whole ground, and has spent some time with the units which took part in the engagement, collecting from officers and men all the details and facts needed for absolute accuracy. Some of the men who had been through the battle actually posed for the picture, whilst machine-guns and all manner of military accoutrements were temporarily placed at the artist’s disposal, whose studio assumed something of the appearance of a battlefield.
This time spent on the continent yielded two massive works, The 12-foot-by-20-foot canvases of The Second Battle of Ypres, 22 April to 25 May 1915, and The Taking of Vimy Ridge, Easter Monday, 1917.
The Second Battle of Ypres, 22 April to 25 May 1915
Official war artist Major Richard Jack poses by his painting. ‘The Second Battle of Ypres, 22 April to 25 May 1915’ depicting Canadian soldiers making a stand against a German assault He painted this enormous work of art, with the canvas measuring 371.5 x 589.0cm (12 x 20 foot), in his London studio, c.1917. Commissioned by the Canadian War Memorials Fund (CWMF), an organization established by Lord Beaverbrook to document Canada’s war effort. Sir Edmund Walker, who sat on the advisory board to the CWMF, felt that Jack captured the achievements of the Canadians during the battle, but felt the work would not resonate with Canadians, who, he felt, were “not likely to appreciate such realistic treatment of war.” He was wrong and Jack’s painting remains an iconic work from the First World War. (National Archives of Canada PA 4879)
The Taking of Vimy Ridge, Easter Monday 1917. The painting is a part of the Beaverbrook Collection of War Art at the Canadian War Art Museum in Ottawa, Ontario.
After the war, Jack, a civilian again, emigrated to Canada (why not, right?) and settled in the Montreal area. Jack became a renowned portrait artist, brushing depictions of royalty, statesmen and senior officers.
Lieutenant Colonel Lancelot Robson, CMG, DSO by Richard Jack, currently part of the collection of the Hartlepool Museums and Heritage Service. Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation. Robinson was commander of the Royal Artillery who responded to the raid on Hartlepool, commanding three BL 6 inch Mk VII naval guns mounted ashore against Hipper’s squadron
Muriel Elsie, née Hirst, (1895–1969), Lady Gamage painted 1950 by Richard Jack via St Johns Museum. Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation. Muriel Gamage was a prominent worker for public causes, and had served during WWI with the VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment), organizing the military hospitals during the war, and was appointed D.J.ST.J.(Dame of Justice of the Order of St John of Jerusalem), in recognition of her service, whose badge appears on her uniform
Jack was later inducted to Royal Society of British Artists and the Royal Institute of Painters before his death in 1952, aged 86.
He spent the latter part of his life paining landscapes in his adopted country.
Richard Jack landscape, from the York Trust. Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation
You can find an in-depth study of his works here and the BBC has a collection of some 45 of his works online
His style of battle scenes has drawn much modern imitation.
Thank you for your work, sir.
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