Since the beginning of time, artists have documented war and battles in field sketches or in more elaborate paintings based on field notes. Canada’s First World War artists created heroic, symbolic scenes of battlefields and command posts in Europe. In the Second World War, Canadian war art was produced by both civilian artists and artists like Alex Colville, Molly Lamb Bobak and Jack Shadbolt, who were designated to work as journalists deployed to the European Theatre.

A Brush with War: Military Art from Korea to Afghanistan presents work by artists from the two military art programs started more than 20 years after the Second World War: the Canadian Armed Forces Civilian Artists Program (1968-1995) and the Canadian Forces Artists Program (2001-present). The exhibition, curated by Laura Brandon, was organized and circulated by the Canadian War Museum in partnership with the Directorate of History and Heritage, Department of National Defence.

Over the past 60 years, Canadian military artists have moved from a documentary approach to more reflective and personal treatments of the theme. The paintings in this exhibition depict not only contemporary military activities but scenes of peacekeeping work carried out by soldiers abroad, daily life for troops stationed overseas and at home, and the impact of war zones on affected civilians.

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Mia Johnson