The countdown has started

Welcome to our blog.  This is the first blog in our journey to opening the exhibition, Britain’s Efforts and Ideas: Prints of the First World War on 2 August 2014 at the National Museum Cardiff.  The countdown has started.   

The exhibition will bring together the works from the portfolio, The Great War: Britain’s Efforts and Ideals. commissioned by Wellington House, the propaganda Bureau that became the Ministry of Information.  The prospectus described the series as …’a first attempt by a number of British artists, working in unison, to put on record some aspects of the activities called forth by the Great war, and ideals by which those activities were inspired.’  Artists of the day including Frank Brangwyn, Augustus John, William Rothenstein, Eric Kennington and C.R.W. Nevinson all contributed prints to the series.  In 1919 the National Museum of Wales was donated a set by the government.  We will be exhibiting these works as a group for the first time. 

Over the next few months we plan to give you an insight into preparations for this show.  Working together, conservators and curators will research and prepare all 66 prints for display.  We will give you an insight into what happens to works when they go ‘to be conserved’, how we can investigate the fibres to identify the paper, what new research will reveal about the series and the public reaction when they went on display.

Mar Mateo, Beth McIntyre and Emily O’Reilly