Leslie Cole: Recording Conflict - Museum & Art Swindon

Discover the work of Leslie Cole through his work as an Official War Artist and beyond at Museum & Art Swindon.

Swindon-born Leslie Cole (1910-1976) was a prolific war artist.  Commissioned by the War Artists Advisory Committee from 1941 until 1946, Cole travelled extensively, completing portraits of military figures and recording the effects of war in Burma, Borneo, Greece, Germany, Malta and Singapore.  Despite Cole’s important records of work during the war, and unflinching depictions of wartime devastation, his name is not widely known.

On the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, ‘Leslie Cole: Recording Conflict’ explores Cole’s work before, during and after the conflict.  It showcases paintings and lithographs from Museum & Art Swindon, and generous loans from the Imperial War Museum, to demonstrate the breadth and depth of Cole’s experience.

Through works by artists like Mary Kessell, Henry Moore and Graham Sutherland, the exhibition also explores the role of the War Artists Advisory Committee, and Cole’s place within its legacy. 

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