London’s Imperial War Museum has announced an opening date for its new war and conflict-based art, film and photography galleries.
Exploring how artists, photographers and filmmakers document war and conflict, the new galleries open on 10 November 2023 ahead of Remembrance Sunday.
“Artists, filmmakers and photographers are eyewitnesses, participants and commentators on conflict,” said Caro Howell, director-general of Imperial War Museums.
“Their work provides critical insight and perspective, while also having the power to deeply move us. Within these galleries visitors can explore the ways in which art, film and photography shape, challenge and deepen our understanding of war and conflict.”
The galleries will include around 500 works from the Imperial War Museum collection, which contains more than 23,000 hours of footage and over 12 million photographs.
Visitors will learn how the museum has been collecting and interpreting artistic responses to war through works including John Singer Sargent’s ‘Gassed’, Queen and Country by Steve McQueen, and Peter Jackson’s award-winning 2018 film They Shall Not Grow Old.
Also on display will be works by artists Paul Nash, Laura Knight and Rosalind Nashashibi, and images by Cecil Beaton, Olive Edis and Tim Hetherington
Artistic responses to war and conflict
“I have long taken an interest in the history of conflict and the experience of those who suffer its impact,” said Sir Leonard Blavatnik, founder of the Blavatnik Family Foundation, the project’s main funder.
The galleries will offer a dedicated screening space showing the museum’s historical film collection, including the restored war epic, The German Retreat and Battle of Arras.
Another screening space, called the Art Box, will focus on contemporary moving image and feature works by Coco Fusco, Omer Fast and Shona Illingworth.
The development of the new galleries, which will be free to enter, is part of the third phase of the Imperial War Museum’s transformation project.
