Efforts and Ideals – Prints of the First World War

The Efforts and Ideals exhibition at the National Museum Cardiff from August 2014 to January 2015 presented the complete print series, The Great War: Britain’s Efforts and Ideals, in its entirety. These sixty‑six lithographic prints were produced by the British government in 1917 as artistic propaganda with the aim of encouraging a war‑weary public and raising support for the war effort.

The prints were commissioned by Wellington House, a British government department secretly set up to produce propaganda. Eighteen artists contributed to the series, including Augustus John, George Clausen and Frank Brangwyn – some of the most celebrated artists of the time. As a government commission, the artists did not have full artistic freedom. They were given their subjects and each image had to pass censorship regulations. The prints were divided into two sets of portfolios, ‘Ideals’ and ‘Efforts’. The ‘Ideals’ address the question of why Britain was at war and what it aimed to achieve. These images are dramatic and symbolic, such as The Freedom of the Seas and The Triumph of Democracy. The ‘Efforts’ illustrated some of the activities of the war effort, the means by which Britain was to achieve the ‘Ideals’. The ‘Efforts’ were separated into nine subject headings, each depicting a different activity or theme. The series was first exhibited at the Fine Art Society, London in July 1917, followed by regional art galleries around the UK, France and the United States, where the majority of the portfolios were sent to be exhibited and sold.

Left: Rhyddid y Moroedd / The Freedom of the Seas – Frank Brangwyn © Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales Right: Y Wawr / The Dawn – Augustus John © Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales