CHICHESTER.- Pallant House Gallery presents the first major exhibition to examine the response of British visual artists to the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish Civil War (1936 - 1939) was one of the most significant conflicts of the twentieth century. It was fought between the democratically-elected Spanish Republic and a rebel Nationalist force led by General Franco and was emblematic of the widespread clashes between right- and left-wing ideologies that dominated Europe in the lead up to the Second World War.

Whilst British literary reactions to the Spanish Civil War have been widely celebrated, the story of the nation’s artistic responses remains largely untold. The exhibition, which marks the 75th anniversary of the end of the conflict, reveals how a generation of British visual artists were drawn to engage in the conflict, either by fighting in the war themselves, providing artistic manpower for relief campaigns or creating independent works of art that made fierce political statements. The British artistic response to the Spanish Civil War crossed boundaries between abstract and realist artists, uniting diverse elements of the avant-­‐ garde in the fight against Fascism.

The exhibition includes works by Henry Moore, Edward Burra, Wyndham Lewis, FE McWilliam, Merlyn Evans, Roland Penrose, SW Hayter and John Armstrong, amongst others. The exhibition includes loan works from both public and private collections and features more than 80 artworks in a range of media, including painting, printmaking, design, textiles, sculpture, photography and film. It is the first time that many of these works have been brought together and some of the works have not been shown in public for several decades. The exhibition provides new insights into the politically engaged work of many well known artistic figures but also presents long forgotten works by artists such as Frank Brangwyn, Clive Branson and Ursula McCannell. The little known involvement that female artists had in the conflict is also an important element of the exhibition.

A highlight of the show is Picasso’s Weeping Woman (1937), which is on display alongside material detailing the impact in Britain of the exhibition of the iconic Guernica, which travelled to the UK in 1938. A chief section of the exhibition explores the different ways in which organised artistic responses to the war were mounted, looking especially at the particular response of the Surrealist Group. The exhibition also explores artistic responses to the plight of refugees of the conflict, many of whom were sent to Britain. Britain received huge numbers of Basque refugees following the bombing of Guernica who were accommodated in hostels across the South of England, in towns including Worthing and Hove.

The exhibition examines the support shown by different groups, beginning with the organised artistic response that was coordinated in favour of the Republican cause. Over 2,500 British men and women travelled to Spain to join the International Brigades. The Artists’ International Association, which was set up in 1933 to present a ‘United Front Against Fascism and War’, had 600 members by 1936 and organised numerous fundraising exhibitions. These included ‘Artists Help Spain’ (1936), and the ‘Portraits for Spain’ scheme (1938), for which artists painted portraits whose proceeds went to Spanish relief. It also organised a posthumous exhibition of the artist Felicia Browne, the first British volunteer to die in the war, who produced drawings of Republican soldiers and Spanish peasants affected by the conflict. Several of Browne’s works will be on display.

By contrast, several artists were forced to leave Spain upon the outbreak of war, including Edward Burra. Burra’s traumatic experience witnessing the outbreak of violence inspired macabre paintings that combine symbolic scenes from Spain’s history with references to the Civil War. Several of his watercolours are on display including The Watcher (c. 1937) and Medusa (1938). In a similar manner, Wyndham Lewis, who was in fact critical of communist activity in Spain, depicted the 15th century Siege of Barcelona as a telling comparative event in his painting The Surrender of Barcelona (1934–7), which also is on display. A number of artists were supportive of General Franco, including Francis Rose and William Russell Flint.

Several British artists designed posters in support of the Spanish Relief Campaign, examples of which are on display. A powerful poster featuring an El Greco head, entitled Help Send Medical Aid to Spain (c. 1937), was designed by E McKnight Kauffer and Spain by Frank Brangwyn features a Madonna-­‐like mother holding a child amidst desperate scenes. The British Surrealists published manifestos that campaigned against the official British policy of non-­‐intervention. They called for ‘Arms for Spain’ to counter the military support supplied to Franco’s Nationalists by Hitler and Mussolini. Henry Moore designed the cover of a Surrealist Manifesto ‘We Ask Your Attention’ (1937) and a later print The Spanish Prisoner (1939) anticipates several of his drawings and sculptures that express themes of containment and threat, such as The Helmet (1939-­‐40). In the 1938 London May Day Procession FE McWilliam, Roland Penrose and Julian Trevelyan protested at appeasement policies by marching in masks made by McWilliam that depicted Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, one of which is included in the exhibition.

A number of artworks convey the general strength of feeling in Britain at the time. Works depicting political protests include Demonstration in Battersea (1939) by the communist Clive Branson, who himself fought in the International Brigades. The painting depicts workers waving flags and banners in support of Spain. Also included is May Day (1938) by the Bloomsbury artist Quentin Bell, son of Vanessa Bell, whose brother Julian was killed in Spain whilst serving as an ambulance driver. Ursula McCannell, who is 91, painted in Spain in 1936 at the age of 13 and had exhibitions in the late 1930s of her depictions of refugees. Her paintings and source photographs will be on display.

The exhibition also examines the showing in Britain of Picasso's iconic anti–war painting Guernica (1937), which protested against the bombing of civilians and is without doubt the most famous artwork to emerge from the conflict. Guernica and related studies were shown at the New Burlington Galleries in London in October 1938 before touring the country. The exhibition focuses on the specific impact of the Guernica group of works, including Weeping Woman (1937), which was bought by the Surrealist Roland Penrose, who had himself been instrumental in bringing Guernica to Britain. The works had an immense impact on the imagery of British art, notably influencing FE McWilliam’s Spanish Head (1938–9) and Merlyn Evans’ Distressed Area (1938). The desolating effects of the Guernica bombings directly influenced John Armstrong in Revelations (1938) and Walter Nessler’s Premonition (1937), which prefigured the London Blitz.