2 June 2026
The Origins of Official War Artists
By Sean Waterman, Head of Intellectual Property
We usually associate Crown Copyright with official documents such Acts of Parliament or government reports however there are more creative examples such as artworks by official war artists commissioned by the Crown.
The origins of the Crown commissioning artists to create artworks began during the first world war. In the early years of the war, the British Government did not support an official war artist scheme but in 1916 Wellington House, the British Government’s secret war propaganda department commissioned the artist Sir Muirhead Bone as the UK’s first official war artist. Bone was employed to create drawings of war scenes from the Western Front and later scenes from the home front such as munitions and ship production primarily for use as propaganda. Wellington House was merged with the Department of Information in 1917 and other commissions followed including leading British painters such as Paul Nash, C.R.W. Nevinson and William Orpen.
Early in 1918, responsibility for British war artists passed to the British War Memorials Committee (BWMC). The focus shifted from short-term propaganda to creating a lasting memorial to the war. Younger artists, including Stanley Spencer and Wyndham Lewis were commissioned by the BWMC to produce a series of large artworks.
After the War, the BWMC was wound up, this series of artworks, which included ‘The Menin Road’ by Paul Nash and ‘Gassed’ by John Singer Sargent became part of the newly established Imperial War Museum’s collections. Since the IWM’s establishment it has played a major role as a custodian of official war art including many works commissioned by the War Artists Advisory Committee during the Second World War and continues to commission war artists to record conflicts in which Britain is involved.
I will be leading Naomi Korn Associates’ next date of our intermediate level Crown and Parliamentary Copyright course, on Thursday 25th June 9:30am-1pm, worth 3 CPD points from CPD UK. This course is ideal for anyone involved in the acquisition, collections management, creation, commissioning, use and sharing of Crown and or Parliamentary copyright works. It is advised that participants should already have a basic understanding of copyright. Book now via the link above or contact our Training Manager at info@naomikorn.com.
Sources
https://history.blog.gov.uk/2014/07/22/sir-muirhead-bone-first-official-war-artist/
https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/community/2609
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-the-british-government-sponsored-the-arts-in-the-first-world-war