The First World War's 'western front' revisited

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The Fleming Collection in London marks the Centenary of the First World War with an exhibition of photographs by Peter Cattrell and a programme of events.

Traces of War: Landscapes of the Western Front, open until 18 October, shows Glasgow born Cattrell’s reflective landscapes from the Somme alongside a more recent series of his still life photographs, seen here for the first time. Also on display are a series of photographs from the National Galleries of Scotland by George P. Lewis, depicting women who worked in transport and heavy industries in Scotland during the First World War.

Cattrell’s interest in the Somme was sparked upon the discovery of a photograph of his great uncle, William Wyatt Bagshawe, with three of his companions from the Sheffield ‘Pals’ Battalion. The four members of the Battalion had enlisted in response to Lord Kitcheners’ calls for volunteers, and had died in the first onslaught of the Somme on 1 July 1916. Cattrell went on to find Bagshawe’s name on the war memorial at Thiepval, Belgium during a visit in 1989 and a selection of Cattrell’s archive material is on display.

The photographs Cattrell has taken of the battlefield form a compelling and extensive body of work. The landscape captured by Cattrell is a contradictory one: both a lasting witness to the horrors of the war and a tranquil countryside, softened by the constant renewal of nature.

The still lifes of shrapnel and other debris, collected by Cattrell on his expeditions to France and Belgium and displayed here for the first time, have been carefully photographed at his studio in London, their surface treated with the same fine eye for detail the photographer applies to his images of the battlefields.

Alongside these works taken by Cattrell is a series of portraits by early war photographer George P. Lewis, one of 16 official British photographers to document the war. In 1918 Lewis was commissioned by the Women’s Work Committee for the Imperial War Museum to document the heroism of women labourers in the war. In 2004 Cattrell was commissioned by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, from where the photographs are currently on loan, to create silver gelatin prints from the negatives still held by the Imperial War Museum.

A series of events, including a WW1 Sculpture Walk and talk on Memorials of the Great War, have been programmed to run alongside this exhibition. On 17 September Judith Palmer, Director of the Poetry Society, will introduce and read some of the women’s poetry that emerged from the conflict, telling the story of poets who worked as nurses or ambulance drivers, and those who waited and mourned for brothers, lovers and sons. More details about Fleming Collection events can be found on their website.

The Fleming Collection
13 Berkeley Street
London W1J 8DU

Nearest tube: Green Park

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