Paths of Glory
Censorship of art in World War
One
'Paths of Glory', 1917 by CRW Nevinson (1878-1958),
Imperial War Museum, 61cm x 46cm, oil on canvas ©
• This painting was part of a series of 75
paintings, drawings and prints that
Nevinson completed after his return from
France and Belgium where he had been
sent by the British government as an
official war artist on July 5, 1917.
• Because Nevinson was so bold as to paint the
bodies of two Tommies in front of the barbed
wire, this painting was banned from an exhibition
in 1918.
• Nevinson refused to take it down and covered it
with brown paper on which he wrote "Censored".
• This gesture earned him a reprimand from the
War Office, for it was forbidden either to show
reality or to denounce censorship.
Why was the censor so keen to prevent
this particular image being seen?
• Is it worse than others you have seen?
• How have the dead soldiers been
portrayed?
Why censor this painting?
• The explanation given by the government at the
time was that the image of dead British soldiers
would undermine the public morale at a time
during the war when morale was already at an all
time low.
• However, the numerous other exhibitions around
London at that time portraying dead soldiers, both
Allied and enemy soldiers, is inconsistent with that
reasoning.
• There were also a number of war photographers,
whose images were equally if not more graphic,
showing frequently in London as well.
What significant detail has the artist included?
The soldiers are
painted face down
as if they were
anonymous
How have the soldiers been
portrayed?
• The soldiers have been left unattended,
presumably behind the Allied lines.
• Their bloated and putrefying bodies appearing to
float at the side of the road.
• Have they been forgotten?
• Or, are there too many others and too few
resources to deal with them?
• Does no one care anymore about burying them?
• There are no clues to the actual battle, but does
this even matter?
A mood of death is
heightened through use
of eerie, unnatural light
recessive line implying an
untold number of dead
beyond the limits of the
canvas
The small stone
against the
background of sky is
transected by a
skeletal web of
posts and barbed
wire,
'Paths of Glory', 1917 by CRW Nevinson (1878-1958),
Imperial War Museum, 61cm x 46cm, oil on canvas ©
Why do you think Nevinson used
the title, Paths to Glory?
• The title is a quote from ‘Elegy Written in a
Country Church-Yard’ by Thomas Gray.
• The ninth stanza contains the line, "The paths of
glory lead but to the grave."
• This poem was apparently a common source of
support for the war-ridden public during this low
point.
• The so-called ‘Paths of Glory’ have led these
soldiers to death in a wasteland, imprisoned by
barbed wire.
Want to know more about
Nevinson?
• Working as a volunteer ambulance driver on the
western front from 1914-15, Nevinson's work
focused upon the visual realities of war.
• In the following years he became an official
wartime artist for the British government.
• He was often sent off to the front lines, and upon
return would produce pictures from his
experiences which the government then had the
option of buying from him for use in propaganda
material, or leaving the images as property of
the artist.
• The government bought this one, but left it
in Nevinson’s possession.
• He then exhibited it, as we know, with a
censored label covering it diagonally.
Credits
• With thanks to the Imperial War Museum
for granting permission to use the
Nevinson painting.