A free exhibition that tells the story of London during the Second World War, as seen by artists.
Set up in 1939, the British government’s War Artists’ Advisory Committee commissioned artists to document how the war transformed the city and its inhabitants. A large proportion of the works included in the exhibition come directly from this scheme.
Officially, the purpose of the committee was to compile a record of the war and promote Britain's image. A less widely known aim was also held by its founder Sir Kenneth Clark, then Director of the National Gallery. With the deaths of artists and writers in the First World War still fresh in his mind, he hoped to protect a new generation of British artists - being a war artist was a non-combat role.
