The Fleming Collection is currently hosting a free exhibition titled Traces of War: Landscapes of the Western Front, and as part of the exhibition are showing a selection of photographs taken throughout the First World War depicting women at work in heavy industries during the conflict. To compliment this, they are holding an evening event celebrating the women poets of the First World War and the works they produced. The evening is hosted by Judith Palmer, director of the Poetry Society, and will include an introduction to the works as well as poetry readings, telling the story of poets who worked as nurses or ambulance drivers, and those who waited and mourned for brothers, lovers and sons.
The talk is being held at the Fleming Collection which is situated in Berkeley Street, Green Park. Tickets to the event are £7.50, and doors will open at 6.30pm for a 7pm start, with the evening expected to conclude at 8.30pm. Tickets are available via phone and email; 020 7042 5730 – gallery@flemingcollection.com
Furthermore, they have recently commissioned a poem based upon a work from our permanent collection which is currently on show as part of the Traces of War exhibition. The Eve of the Battle of the Somme by Sir Herbert James Gunn, painted by Gunn whilst in service during the war, is a poignant and deeply moving picture of young soldiers at rest and play before a battle that would claim the lives of thousands of men. In association with The Poetry Society, the Fleming Collection has commissioned Scottish poet John Glenday to write a poem about the painting to be displayed alongside it, which is on display until Traces of War closes on 18 October.
