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The art of Canada at war A terrible Beauty: The Art of Canada at War, an exhibi- tion of 104 works by Canaiiian artists, organized and circu- lated by The Robert McLau- ghlin Gallery, Oshawa, will be beld at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Decent- ber 9th to 3lst, 1977. As Heather Robertson, author of the exhibition's book- catalogue, says in the cata- logue introduction, "Perhaps our most import- ant and enduring legacy from botn world wars is the art and iiterature produceci, ulLen under f ire, by Canadians in the armed services. When Canadians weren't fighting they were writing, sketching, telling jokes, singing, invent- ing stories, staging musicals, painting their airpianes, gos- siping and plastering walls with signs, murals and graf- fiti. War produced a unique and inventive military cul- ture with its own colloquial language, its own style. rituals, symbols, secret codes and folk heroes. The world of war was a separate self- sufficient universe as remote from normal experience as the moon, or Mars, or Hel." Started in 1917 by Lord Beaverbrook, the Canadian war art program was the largest war art program ever undertaken by any country and the first great official commission for Canadian artists. Comprising more than 5,000 works by over 200 artists, the Canadian war art collection is a priceless nat- ional treasure. Says Heather Robertson: "The Canadian war paintîngs are exceptiona- ally qitiet. understated, still, frozen in a kind of enchanted sleep. Their mood is net one of swagger or hate or frenzy, but rather of peace, compassion and love, a mood which perfectîy expresses the eter- nal tragedy of war". Included in the exhibition, drawn fromn the collection of the Canadian War Museum, are such Canacian'artists as Maurice Cullen, Charles Wil- liam Jefferys, David Mine, G.A. Reid, Miller Brittain, Alex Colville, Carl Schaefer, Jack Shadbolt, and members of the Group of Seven, A.Y. Jackson, Franiz Johnson. Ar- thur Lismer, Fred Varley and Edwin FHolgate. The book which accom- panies the exhibition chroni- dles that war experience through the memoirs,' diaries, letters, songs and poetry of Canadians at war, skillfully interwoven by Heather Rob- ertson in a tribute to courage, resilience and compassion in the face of terrible forces of destruction. For the text Heather Rob- ertson lias unearthed a com- pelling literature of the Cana- dian soldier, with first-hand accounts of combat, terror, heroism, comnradeship and the trials of routine survival in war, front Canada to the trenches in France, from the long wait in Britain to the beaches on D-Day and the perils of nightly bombing raids over Germany. War showed Canadiansto Orann Weekly Timues. Wednesday. December 14th. 1977-13 be proud, capable, seif-confi- The exhibition at The Rob- dent people with an immense ert McLaughlin Gallery will capacity for collective effort be formally opened by Her and achievement. This Hea- Honour, Pauline M. McGib- ther Robertson has conveyed bon, Lieutenant-Governor of clearly and impressively in A Ontario or, Friday, December Terrible Beauty. 9th, at 8:30 p.m. w ' ýc