Lambert and the Light Horse in Toowoomba

28 April 2008 by Janda Gooding. No comments
George Lambert: Gallipoli and Palestine Landscapes,

The Lambert exhibition has just opened at the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery and will be on show there until 25 May 2008. Toowoomba has a long relationship to the Australian Light Horse units so it is particularly appropriate that the opening should coincide with ANZAC Day. Throughout his tours in Palestine and Gallipoli, George Lambert was guided by Light Horse veterans of key events such as the Gallipoli landing, Romani and Beersheba.

‘Lieutenant General Sir Harry Chauvel’ 1918 by George Lambert‘Lieutenant General Sir Harry Chauvel’ 1918 by George Lambert ART02734

The Australian War Memorial has many pencil portrait sketches Lambert made of the Light Horse men he travelled with. This sensitive sketch of Lieutenant General Henry (Harry) George Chauvel GCMG, KCB (1865-1945) was made on 15 February 1918 during Lambert’s first tour of Palestine as an official war artist. At this time Lambert was travelling with the ANZAC Mounted Division around the Ayunkara / Richon le Zion area.

‘Brigadier General William Grant’ 1918 by George Lambert‘Brigadier General William Grant’ 1918 by George Lambert ART02770

Lambert also made a sketch of Brigadier General William Grant CMG, DSO (Bar), MID when he travelled to Belah in March 1918. Grant commanded the 11th Light Horse (a largely Queensland regiment) at Romani. While in Belah, Lambert attended the Divisional Sports day and made several sketches of the participants and events.

For those able to attend, there will be a special floor talk on ‘George Lambert, the Light Horse and Palestine landscapes’ presented by Assoc Prof Christopher Lee of the University of Southern Queensland at the Toowoomba Gallery on 11 May 2008.

Gosford Art Gallery and Lambert

11 February 2008 by Janda Gooding. No comments
George Lambert: Gallipoli and Palestine Landscapes, ,

Edogawa Gardens, GosfordEdogawa Gardens, Gosford

I was in Gosford over the weekend opening the George Lambert exhibition at the Regional Art Gallery. Adjacent to the Gallery are the Edogawa Commemorative Gardens, beautiful restful Japanese-style gardens with lotus ponds, pavilions and a dry stone garden. As I was sitting in the tea house looking across the pond, I was reminded how much the scene resembled a Hokusai Japanese woodcut print as the rain raked across and partly obscured the pavilion in front of me. These are beautiful gardens and well worth a visit in any weather.

Janda giving a floor talk at Gosford galleryJanda giving a floor talk at Gosford gallery

The Gosford Regional Gallery is hosting the George Lambert: Gallipoli and Palestine Landscapes exhibition until 30 March 2008. They will be organising some special events to coincide with the exhibition so check out their website for further information.

www.gosfordregionalgallery.com

Curtain comes down on To Flanders Fields exhibition

26 November 2007 by Craig Tibbitts. 4 Comments
To Flanders Fields, 1917,

I walked on up the duckboard track to Stirling Castle...(Frank Hurley diary entry)I walked on up the duckboard track to Stirling Castle...(Frank Hurley diary entry) E00833

Well folks, that’s it for another of the Memorial’s special exhibitions, To Flanders Fields, 1917.  Today we started dismantling the show in readiness for the next special exhibition, Lawrence of Arabia and the Light Horse, due to open in the same space on 7 December.

To Flanders Fields has been a very successful and popular exhibition over the past few months, confirming that the memories of Passchendaele are still deep within the community’s psyche.  As we said from the start, 1917 was the worst year of the war for Australian casualties, and Passchendaele was by far the most costly battle of that year.  With the entire AIF involved, these losses touched so many families, and as you have seen, many more than once.

We on the exhibition team and at the Memorial in general, hope that all visitors to the exhibition and to this blog have found them interesting, informative and thought provoking.

On a personal note, I’ve must say I’ve enjoyed immensely running the blog for this exhibition.  I’ve learned a great deal more about the campaign and battles of 1917 and about the troops of our AIF.  It’s all been a very rewarding experience.

Last but not least, I would like to sincerely thank all those that visited the exhibition and this blog, especially those that took the time to post a comment.  The quality of the comments has been exceptionally good and have added a great deal to the blog itself.

While the exhibition is now closed, this blog will remain on the Australian War Memorial’s website.  It’s no longer featured on the home page, but if you look down the left side of the home page you’ll see it listed under ‘Blogs’.  If at a later date it moves, just use the site search to find it. 

I’ll probably leave the comment function on for a little while, but I haven’t yet decided if or when this will cease.

‘Bye for now…

Craig Tibbitts.

Photos from the exhibition

15 October 2007 by Craig Tibbitts. 1 Comment
To Flanders Fields, 1917,

I should have done this ages ago, but as the saying goes, ‘better late than never…’

These are just a few snaps I took of the exhibition today.

The entrance to the exhibition featuring Frank Hurley’s well-known photograph


A replica cast of the ‘Big Digger’ stands guard near the exhibition’s entrance. The real statue stands atop the Bullecourt Memorial

Portraits and uniform jackets of two prominent AIF commanders at Bullecourt. Brigadier John Gellibrand of 6th Brigade (L) and Lt Colonel Raymond Leane of the 48th ‘Joan of Arc’ Battalion (R)

 


Typical battledress of a German and an Australian infantryman on the Western Front in 1917

 


Two large artworks of Polygon Wood and Messines, plus a foot bridge used to cross the Douve near Messines and a stretcher that saw action at Passchendaele

 


This part of the exhibition presents the commemorative aspects, both then and now

 


Signposts from the battlefields

 


A long view down the first corridor of the exhibition

 


Looking back from the far corner

Exhibition Catalogue now available

29 August 2007 by Craig Tibbitts. No comments
To Flanders Fields, 1917,

A catalogue of the To Flanders Fields, 1917 exhibition is now available.  It’s 44-pages, is illustrated and sells for AUD $7.95.  It can be purchased at the Memorial’s shop or online.

Exhibition catalogueExhibition catalogue

Lambert in Melbourne

24 August 2007 by Janda Gooding. No comments
News, , , ,

Entrance to exhibition at Ian Potter Museum of Art, MelbourneEntrance to exhibition at Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne

Here are some of the latest pics of the George Lambert exhibition at the Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne. You can see that it looks quite different to how it did in Canberra. As each venue has different physical spaces and facilities and even different visitor patterns, the exhibition is ‘re-designed’ for each specific venue. Whereas in Canberra we used dark wall colours, in Melbourne the works hang on white walls with an even wash of light over them. With slightly more space the exhibition has an ‘airy’ feel about it. And the order in which the paintings and drawings are displayed is very different. Some groups have remained the same but generally, the hanging order has taken into account the way people move around the two adjacent galleries.

View inside the exhibition when at the Australian War MemorialView inside the exhibition when at the Australian War Memorial

Exhibition at Ian Potter Museum of Art, MelbourneExhibition at Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne

Exhibition launch

10 August 2007 by Craig Tibbitts. 1 Comment
To Flanders Fields, 1917,

Last night the Australian War Memorial’s latest special exhibition, To Flanders Fields, 1917 was officially launched.  A large gathering of invited guests saw the Chairman of the Council of the Australian War Memorial, Major General Adrian Clunies-Ross AO MBE (Ret’d), give the opening address and introduce the guest speakers.

The Ambassador for Belgium, His Excellency Mr Frank Carruet gave a sincere and heart-felt speech, followed by The Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, The Hon. Bruce Billson MP, who also made an excellent speech before officially opening the exhibition.

The exhibition opened to the public this morning (10 August).

Major General Adrian Clunies-Ross AO MBE (Ret'd)Major General Adrian Clunies-Ross AO MBE (Ret'd)His Excellency Mr Frank Carruet His Excellency Mr Frank Carruet Minister for Veterans' Affairs, The Hon. Bruce Billson MP with AWM exhibition concept leader Peter Burness.Minister for Veterans' Affairs, The Hon. Bruce Billson MP with AWM exhibition concept leader Peter Burness.L-R - Frank Carruet, Adrian Clunies-Ross, Bruce Billson, Dirk Cardoen (Mayor of Zonnebeke), Franky Bryon (Councillor from Zonnebeke).L-R - Frank Carruet, Adrian Clunies-Ross, Bruce Billson, Dirk Cardoen (Mayor of Zonnebeke), Franky Bryon (Councillor from Zonnebeke).

Photographs by Hans Reppin, Australian War Memorial. Copyright Australian War Memorial, 2007.

Latest media articles

10 August 2007 by Craig Tibbitts. 2 Comments
To Flanders Fields, 1917,

10 August - Year of bloodshed best not forgotten, The Sydney Morning Herald

10 August - Exhibition evokes cruel days of 1917, The Canberra Times

11 August - Miners of Messines, The Australian

Reminder - Exhibition opens tomorrow !

09 August 2007 by Craig Tibbitts. No comments
To Flanders Fields, 1917,

Just a reminder that this exhibition will open here at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra tomorrow - Friday 10 August.

Admission to the Memorial and this exhibition is free. Hope you can come and see it.

Check our web page ‘Planning your visit’

Also check out online, an excerpt (nearly 3 mins) from the exhibition’s 15 minute film

/blog.awm.gov.au/awm/2007/08/06/exhibition-film-preview/

Exhibition Film - Preview

06 August 2007 by Craig Tibbitts. 2 Comments
To Flanders Fields, 1917, ,

The exhibition will feature a 15 minute film, based on the photographic and film work of Captain Frank Hurley, Official War Photographer during the Ypres-Passchendaele Offensive.

This is a short excerpt from that film (2 mins 43 secs).

Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player.

Title: To Flanders Fields, 1917: through the eyes of Frank Hurley
Produced by: the Australian War Memorial
Producer: Ray McJannett
Sound & sound effects: Lenny Preston
Original music: Antoni Rudnicki
Narrators: Craig Marvel, Sharron Parmeter
Archival film and photos: Captain Frank Hurley
Diary extracts of Frank Hurley (courtesy of National Library of Australia)
Copyright: Australian War Memorial (2007)