The sketchbook war

the long version

The Sketchbook War is not a book about art but the story of war artists. How men who had previously made a comfortable living painting in studios were transformed by military uniforms and experiences that were to shape the rest of their lives and the way in which we view war today. Following eight artists who formed a close bond on the frontline, we explore the experiences of: Edward Ardizzone, Edward Bawden, Anthony Gross, Thomas Hennell, Eric Ravilious, Albert Richards, Richard Seddon, and John Worsley. They all went abroad; many of them approached the front line; they heard guns firing in earnest; two were torpedoed; two were taken prisoner; and three died, two of them in 1945 when the war was nearly over. This book is about how war and art came together in a moving and dramatic way.