The Great War in Portraits

Emphasizing the tension between promoting the qualities of leaders and heroes and reflecting the true horrors of the ordinary soldier's experience, this catalogue of an exhibition held at the National Portrait Gallery assesses the First World War through portraiture. It brings together the work of artists, photographers, filmmakers and sculptors, with images ranging from official war artist William Orpen's portrait of Field Marshal Haig to Gilbert Rogers's painting of a dead stretcher-bearer and Max Beckman's nightmarish self-portrait with a disfigured veteran.