Past Exhibitions
Crucible Life and Death 1918
For the Doughboys on the Western Front, 1918 was their year. It was the crucible where the American land forces forged their fighting force. They fought alongside their main allies from Cantigny to Belleau Wood to the Champagne Region, the Piave River to the Marne to St. Mihiel to the Meuse Argonne to Vladivostok. This exhibition is not an illustration or timeline of how the 1918 battles were fought, rather it focuses on individuals and their lives and deaths in the crucible of 1918. Exhibition was open April 3, 2018 – March 3, 2019 in Exhibit Hall.
John Singer Sargent Gassed
John Singer Sargent’s incredible masterpiece Gassed is truly one of the giants of the art world at more than nine feet tall by 21 feet long. The landmark painting is the focal point in this special centennial exhibition that also includes original maps of the dressing station where Sargent witnessed the scene he depicted and reproductions of many of his study drawings and featuring historical and contemporary objects on detection and protection from chemical warfare. Exhibition open Feb. 23 – June 3, 2018 in the Wylie Gallery.
Images of the Great War: America Crosses the Atlantic
Focusing on the final two years of the Great War with the emphasis on American involvement, Images of the Great War: America Crosses the Atlantic features works by French, British, German and American artists who attempted to capture the harsh realities of the incredibly brutal war. The exhibition was organized by Brown University Library and The President Woodrow Wilson House. Exhibition open Nov. 9, 2017 – May 13, 2018 in the Ellis Gallery.
Revolutions! 1917
The Centennial exhibition showcases the incredible events that occurred worldwide from America’s official entry into the war and Russia’s upheavals from an Imperial state to Bolshevik rule. The stalemated battles on the Western Front and in other theaters and troubles on the home fronts also led to societal changes, mutinies and revolts. Exhibition open April 7, 2017 – March 11, 2018 in Exhibit Hall.
Vive l’Amérique: French Children Welcome Their American Ally
When the U.S. entered WWI in April 1917, a school teacher in the Montmartre district of Paris asked his students to write essays and express in drawings how this would affect their lives. A century later, Le Vieux Montmartre Historical Society loans 30 of these drawings and two essays on this subject to be on exhibit the first time anywhere in the world. Exhibition open March 21 – Oct. 15, 2017 in Ellis Gallery.
Fields of Battle, Lands of Peace: The Doughboys 1917-1918
Michael St Maur Sheil’s portraits of WWI battlefields are featured in an outdoor photographic exhibition which tells of the healed scars of the First World War through our only remaining living witness: the fields of battle themselves. Once places of devastating violence, we now see landscapes of great beauty, testament to peace and remembrance. Exhibition open March 31 - Oct. 31, 2017 in the Museum and Memorial Courtyard.
Posters as Munitions
Soon after the outset of World War I, the poster was recognized as a means of spreading national propaganda with unlimited possibilities. Posters as Munitions showcases the depth and breadth of the collection through a series of works on exhibition for the first time at the Museum. Posters from France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the United States and more are featured, providing a sense of the global nature of this form of communication. Exhibition open Feb. 21, 2017 – Sept. 2, 2018 in Memory Hall.
Wacht im Osten: German Encounters with the East in World War I
When the German army advanced into the western territory of the Russian Empire (Poland, Lithuania, Belarus) in the spring and summer of 1915, the German soldier encountered a physical and cultural environment quite different from what he previously experienced.