Beyond the Battlefield: Women Artists of the Two World Wars

(Hardback)

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Beyond the Battlefieldprovides a fascinating account of femalecreativity in America, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealandduring the turbulent era of twentieth-century conflict. This booklooks at women artists' unique portrayal of war at the front lines, aswell as their documentation of everyday life on the home front.

Exploring high-profile artists such as the American photographerLee Miller and her work with British Vogue, this book also recounts theexperiences of the First World War nurses, voluntary aides andambulance drivers who found time to create astonishing art whileworking in the middle of war zones.

Reviews

A visual interpretation of how women saw and experienced the two world wars is the subject of a beautiful new book . . . Drawing on the work of wartime women artists from America, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Specks narrative sheds light on how women navigated the no mans land in which many were stuck during times of war: somewhere between the home front (mothers, wives and working women) and behind the frontline (nurses, mechanics, drivers and other women in service) . . . Fascinating as it is to see women painting men at war not to mention women portrayed in service as truck drivers and the like, what really sparkles is the things their male counterparts perhaps overlooked. * Australian Financial Review *
In 2012, Women War Artists at Londons Imperial War Museum focused public attention on long-overlooked images created by women during the conflicts of the last century. Catherine Specks book is similarly welcome, exploring not only the art of the home front and work by familiar frames such as Lee Miller, but also powerful art made by women working near the front lines as nurses or ambulance drivers, for instance. * Apollo Magazine *
Speck has organised her material with clarity and logic. This is no mean feat, considering that she discusses no fewer than seventy artists within her 228 pages. I particularly liked the fact that each artist is given up to three illustrations, so that one gains a fair impression of their work . . . an attractive, readable and useful publication. * Burlington Magazine *
In addition to chronicling high-profile artists like American photographer Lee Miller, who served as a war correspondent for Vogue during the Second World War, Speck recounts the experiences of nurses, voluntary aides and women on the home front as reported in their own words and pictures. * Art in America *
One achievement of this book is that it presents a broader picture of the Allied war effort, as seen through the eyes of its artists . . . This shifting nature of gender roles, changing technologies of art production and the changing nature of the purposes of this art are some of the other key issues addressed in this important book . . . In recent writing there has been an obsession with militaristic histories which glorify war efforts. In this pioneering study, Professor Catherine Speck moves the focus to the home front and the role of women, as recorded through the art of women. * The Age, Australia *
Despite womens central role in paramilitary organisations during the First and Second World Wars, only the masculine eye was thought able to represent truly the experience of war. Catherine Speck reveals that few women were included in official war artists schemes or gained access to the front line for close encounters. Despite these barriers, they created their own visions of the interior and exterior worlds shaped by total war, mobilisation and death . . . Uncovering rare works and revisiting those of celebrated artists, Catherine Speck locates the unique vision of women artists in wartime Britain, Canada, Australia and the United States. An illuminating and important book. * Dr Ana Carden-Coyne, Co-Director, Centre for the Cultural History of War, University of Manchester *
In this timely, original and richly informative book, Catherine Speck brings together for the first time a wealth of work prompted by the two big 20th-century wars . . . In so doing, she fills out the repertoire of world war imagery and gives unprecedented credit to 62 artists who contributed to the visual record of these important events . . . this valuable book takes the interested viewer much further into this long neglected territory. It will remain a significant addition to this growing field of scholarship as well as a publication of intense general interest. * Dr Pamela Gerrish Nunn, freelance art historian specializing in the histories of women artists *
Catherine Specks new book is a gem. Beautifully illustrated, well-researched, and readable, it sheds light on the role of women near the front lines and on the home front during both World Wars. The reader will find much that is new in this valuable contribution to art and social history. Especially interesting is the authors discovery of many talented but little known artists. * Bruce Cole, former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities and Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington, DC *
Speck greatly expands the canon of war art, presenting newly-discovered artists alongside famous names, and reproducing many images for the first time. She challenges the perceived dichotomy between a mans war, fought on the front line, and the experience of women serving and observing from behind the lines, showing how womens art can bring home the totality of modern war. * Dr Grace Brockington, author of Above the Battlefield: Modernism and the Peace Movement in Britain, 19001918 *

Author Bio

Catherine Speck is Professor of Art History at the University of Adelaide. She has published widely on women, war and art; modernism, cosmopolitanism and expatriatism; and the relationship between exhibitions and art histories.