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Gas Warfare in Art
Sargent, who had traveled to the Western front and spent time with the American Expeditionary Forces in Ypres to prepare studies for his mural, was better known for his grand portraits than for such monumental narrative, but his extraordinary ability to capture subtlety suffuses this tableau, demonstrating the soldiers' lack of protective clothing, their reliance on one another, the severely wounded awaiting treatment, and the contrast with young, healthy soldiers in the background, playing soccer.
The Royal Academy of Arts awarded the canvas Picture of the Year in 1919. The original now hands in the Imperial War Museum in London. |