Canadian Artillery in Action

 

This painting is based on The Battle of Somme, which took place in 1916 right in the middle of WW1 and created by Captain Kenneth Forbes in 1918.

Kenneth Keith Forbes was a Canadian portrait and landscape painter born on July 4^th 1892 in Toronto, Ontario. Born with a father who painted portraits for a living, he had already had experience with paint. After going through schooling, and studying art, he enlisted in the army in 1914 but was soon wounded in a warzone, then gassed. He ended his career in the army as second in command of the 32^nd battalion, Machine Gun Corps. He then went on to use his schooling as a recognized war artist.

I think anyone looking at this painting will be interested in the details behind the photo; it gives out a dark vibe. It shows a deeper meaning to the war, and shows another side to it then what people might have thought war was like back then. Depending on the person it can make you feel uneasy or sad because the men work to get the machine loaded while you can see men lying in a still position.

The artist clearly knew what war was like because he added the smallest details to the painting. If we didn’t know that he had previously been in the war it may not be so easy to tell that he knew what he was doing and he knew what the point was trying to get across.

Yes I believe it does represent the war accurately because not only was he there at one point but why would he try and manipulate what people believe war was like. There’s also a lot going on, it looks hectic and in my view that’s what it would be like in the moment.