Over the past century, paintings of the Great War have played an important role in shaping and expressing public memory of the conflict. Indeed, many canvases—think, for example, of the Panthéon de la Guerre or John Singer Sargent’s iconic Gassed—have enjoyed just as much cultural prominence as photographs or works of cinema. The Great War represents a “last hurrah” for painting as a significant form of cultural war remembrance.

The new volume of the University of Alabama Press' book series “War, Memory and Culture.” will examine paintings as sites of memory, highlighting the dynamic exchange between artists and their patrons, both of whom were responsible for determining what was remembered in, and what was absent from, the canvas. This volume seeks to draw together essays addressing individual paintings from a range of belligerent nations, including (but not limited to) Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, and the United States. Each chapter will focus on the history of a single work and its role in the construction, consolidation, or perpetuation of memory. The paintings themselves may come from a wide variety of genres and styles. The editors are open to essays that explore the complexity of works produced during the conflict or afterwards, whether by independent painters or by members of official wartime art programs or post-war commemoration projects.

Please submit an abstract of 300 words outlining your proposed chapter to Margaret Hutchison (margaret.hutchison@anu.edu.au) and Steven Trout (strout@southalabama.edu).

Thereafter essays of 7, 000 words inclusive of footnotes in current Chicago Style format are to be submitted.

Publication is contingent upon successful external review.

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Contact:

Steven Trout

Professor of English / Department Chair

Department of English

University of South Alabama

HUMB 240

Mobile, AL 36608

USA

strout@southalabama.edu