Anniversary of Armistice Tribute at Art Gallery of Windsor
By Jasmine Ball
Lance Writer
November 12, 2008
 Ninety years have passed since the armistice that ended the First World War was signed. In commemoration of this significant event, the Art Gallery of Windsor has put together a collection of Official Canadian Photographs, war art, and propagandist posters from the Great War.
The collection, “They grow not old, as we that are left grow old,” is presented by the Essex-Windsor Citizens’ World War I 90th Anniversary Committee.
On Friday, Nov. 7, over 1,000 students from the Greater Essex County District School Board visited the gallery to learn about Canadians in World War I through the art, re-enactments and vivid lectures from veterans to commend the soldiers who fought and died in that war.
Actors dressed in the uniform of the time demonstrated how to load and fire an 18-pounder field gun, shouting “Clear!” and “Fire!” at one station, while a veteran described life in the trenches at another. Each station had 10 minutes to teach a different aspect of the war, beginning with a tour lead by the well-informed Jay Schroeder (a history teacher from Riverside Secondary School).
Schroeder brought the pictures in the gallery to life, explaining the history of the war as he walked people through the collection. He started with a replication of a painting by Fred Varley (of the Group of Seven) entitled “For What?” The impressionist painting depicts a wheelbarrow holding the bodies of dead Canadian soldiers. A gravedigger stands nearby in the muddy field, keeping sentry duty. The muddy brown strokes and the gravedigger’s expressionless face lend the scene a sense of futility.
Canadian soldiers in the First World War came from all walks of life, but many were from rural communities and were accustomed to the labour and heavy lifting required in war. They served well as soldiers and often disregarded class structures, valuing people as individuals.
This attitude is captured in the photograph titled, “A Canadian Officer Helping to Bring in a Wounded Private.” The photo centres on two officers supporting a wounded soldier. To their right, another soldier heads out with a stretcher to collect another wounded or dead man. Schroeder explains that of the countries that made up the Western front, Canada sent the most photographers.
Especially relevant to the occasion is a photograph of the railway carriage in which the armistice was signed, including those involved in the war’s conclusion.
The armistice would take effect in six hours, putting the Great War to an end at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. Schroeder spoke of the Treaty of Versailles that would follow and its contribution to the Second World War.
Another feature of the collection is the manuscript of the famous war poem, “In Flanders Fields,” written by Canadian doctor, John McCrae.
Medical officers were faced with a special challenge in WWI. They saw the worst of the wounds and were presented with injuries caused from new weapon technology. They treated men who had been subjected to the horrors of mustard gas, shrapnel wounds, and infection brought on by the meagre living conditions in the trenches.
After an informative walk through history, one could see the hundreds of scrawled comments left by grade school students grateful for this learning experience in the gallery’s comment book. The volunteers involved brought the art of war and the war of art to life, contributing to a fantastic tribute to those who served in the Great War.
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