The exhibition brings together collections of historical objects and artworks from the last hundred years, including works by the artist Wyndham Lewis and specially commissioned works by the 1914FACES2014 artist in residence Paddy Hartley.
The unprecedented numbers of facial injuries in 1914-18 led to both innovations in surgical practice and to a permanently changed understanding of the face. Just as artistic practice fed into surgical practice (through sculptors working as mask-makers), so the radically new forms of surgery developed at this time changed the context in which artists represented the face.
From the Band by Eleanor Crook
The exhibition looks at the unique historical situation of the facially injured soldiers of the First World War, the complex question of their reintegration into society and the long-term cultural legacy of that situation.
The exhibition features historical artefacts and archives associated with Sir Harold Gillies’ pioneering surgical work at the Queen’s Hospital, Sidcup, which are on loan from the Royal College of Surgeons and the British Association of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons. They are connected to artworks created during and immediately after the First World War (by Wyndham Lewis and George Grosz) and to contemporary work by René Apallec, Eleanor Crook and Paddy Hartley.
Gueule Cassée No 138 by René Apallec Paper collage, 2013
Organised in partnership with the University of Exeter, the exhibition arises from the EU INTERREG IV-funded project 1914FACES2014, led by Prof Bernard Devauchelle (Institut Faire Faces) and Prof David Houston Jones (University of Exeter). Paddy Hartley is the 1914FACES2014 artist in residence at the University of Exeter.
Accompanying events
Faces of Conflict schools session
Thursday 29 January and 4 & 5 February, 10.30 to 11.30am. Ticketed but free. Email: [email protected]
Lunchtime lecture: Eleanor Crook – The Band
Wednesday 28 January, 1 to 2pm, £8 (£6)
Faces of Conflict schools sessions
Wednesday 4 & Thursday 5 February, 10.30 to 11.30am. Ticketed but free. Email: [email protected]
Debate: Rethinking the Face
Thursday 12 February, 1 to 2.30pm, £5
Evening talk by Simon Weston
Tuesday 3 March, 7.30pm Rougemont Thistle £25 (£20)
Diaries of the Deceased: Courtyard Interruptions
Wednesday 18, Thursday 19 and Friday 20 March, 10am to noon and 2 to 4pm, free, drop in
Faces of Conflict Art School
Saturday 21 March, 10.30am to 4pm, £15 for each place (pupils and teachers)
Faces of Conflict: The impact of the First World War on art and facial reconstructive surgery
Gallery 20, Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery | 17 January to 5 April 2015