Art and Daily Life in World War Two

The British government bodies responsible for commissioning art, including the Ministry of Information and the Imperial War Museum in World War One and the War Artists Advisory Committee in World War Two, realised the need to record the involvement of all its citizens in the war. What history can we learn from war paintings? They contain obvious statements about the routines and risks of daily life: resources were in short supply, civilians were killed, weaponry had to be designed and manufactured and fired. In amongst this are deeper clues about the forces at work and the way people adapted, lived and died. Choose a painting and explore the home front as seen through the eyes of the artists.

• Visit the Home Front and glimpse civilian life during World War Two
• Find out the artists represented the privations of life at war
• Examine how weapons manufacture adapted to new technologies

'The Queue at the Fish Shop' by Evelyn Dunbar

15 inch Gun Turret on HMS Repulse by Barnett Freedman

An Aircraft Assembly Shop in Hendon by Anna Airey

'Taube' by CRW Nevinson