Official War Artist: Sir Muirhead Bone
Read all about Britain's first appointed war artist, Sir Muirhead Bone and download his first catalogue of drawings, originally published in 1917, for free.

At the outbreak of war, Charles Masterman, head of the British War Propaganda Bureau, acting on the advice of artist William Rothenstein, appointed Bone as Britain's first official war artist. He was sent to the front in August 1916 at the height of the Somme Offensive and toured the Southern battlefields working rapidly in various media - pencil, pen, charcoal and chalk - sending back over 150 finished drawings by October. Country Life published several catalogues of his striking drawings, recording events on the Western Front.
The cover of The Western Front: Drawings by Muirhead Bone. Click the cover to download the full volume of drawings.
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READ: Country Life's review of The Western Front, originally published December 16, 1916.
RETURN TO THE WORLD WAR I HOMEPAGE
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Agnes has worked for Country Life in various guises — across print, digital and specialist editorial projects — before finally finding her spiritual home on the Features Desk. A graduate of Central St. Martins College of Art & Design she has worked on luxury titles including GQ and Wallpaper* and has written for Condé Nast Contract Publishing, Horse & Hound, Esquire and The Independent on Sunday. She is currently writing a book about dogs, due to be published by Rizzoli New York in September 2025.
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