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A Terrible Beauty: British Artists in the First World War

Based on over a decade of fieldwork, archive research and primary investigation in the Imperial War Museum, London and other collections, A Terrible Beauty (75 colour plates) examines in detail the wartime lives of fifteen artists who are central to the way we now visualize the war on the Western Front and on more distant battlefields in Macedonia and Gallipoli. It contains the first detailed examination of several war artists – Adrian Hill, Muirhead Bone and Sydney Jones – and has a dedicated chapter on the role of artists in carrying out surveillance, military sketching and target indication.

Gough’s contribution to our understanding of the visual arts of the Great War has resulted in invitations to speak at prestigious events, conferences and lecture series at: National War Memorial, New Zealand 2009; Imperial War Museum, London 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013); Dulwich Picture Gallery (2013), War in the Visual Arts, Cork (2013); and invitations to curate commemorative shows of war art (including ‘Canvas of War’: the Federation of British Artists in the Great War, Mall Gallery, London (July 2014); and ‘Echoes of War and Peace’: contemporary artists respond to the memory of the Great War, Threadneedle Space, London (July 2014); and ‘Brothers in Arms’: Paul and John Nash at the Royal West of England Academy (July-September 2014) and an exhibition ‘Back from the Front’: contemporary artists and conflict at the Royal West of England Academy (July-September 2014).

The book has resulted in invitations to work with national bodies on major commemorative projects. For example, during 2013 (and into 2014) Gough has been advising the Royal Mint Advisory Committee on the Design of Coins, Medals, Seals and Decorations, on the visual language and iconography for a range of commemorative coinage, and has been helping draw up long-lists of artists, design teams and others.