Exhibition of Magnificent Sculptures Commemorates Battle of Vimy RidgeHull, Quebec, May 3, 2001 — The Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Canadian War Museum will put on exhibit five magnificent First World War plaster sculptures that served as models for the figures on the Vimy Memorial in France.
The Canadian War Museum has seventeen of the plaster figures created by Canadian sculptor Walter Allward. They form part of the rich but little-known military heritage to be found in the collections of the Canadian War Museum. Five spectacular plaster sculptures — Defenders: Breaking the Sword, The Defenders: Sympathy for the Helpless, Knowledge, Truth and Sacrificeill be displayed at the Canadian Museum of Civilization until the opening of the new Canadian War Museum.
Created between 1925 and 1930 by Canadian sculptor Walter Allward, the plaster sculptures are the models for the figures on the Vimy Memorial in France, which commemorates the 1917 Battle of Vimy Ridge in which 3,598 Canadians died and more than 7,000 were wounded. The memorial was Walter Allward's most important commission. His design, selected from 160 others in a 1920 competition, took ten years to construct at a cost of $1.5 million. King Edward VIII unveiled it on July 29, 1936.
Walter Allward's remarkable skill is particularly visible in the unique plaster models on display. Many still bear the marks of his fingers as he continued to work on the balance, form and surface of the figures as the plaster dried. "In this way," notes Dr. John English, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation, "the plaster sculptures and the Vimy Memorial are strangely alike, each shaped in lasting and obvious ways by Canadian hands, their collective efforts joined — and remembered — in this marvellous work of art. Allward was not the first Canadian to be affected so intimately by what happened there; his work helped to ensure that he would not be the last."
In 1999, the delicate and time-consuming process of restoration began in conjunction with the touring exhibition Canvas of War, which was on display at the Canadian Museum of Civilization from February 2000 to January 2001. All seventeen figures have now been restored at a cost of $135,000.
"The Vimy Memorial sculpture exhibition pays tribute to those who served and risked their lives for this country," said Joe Geurts, Director and CEO of the Canadian War Museum. "The new CWM facility will display monumental works of war art never seen before in public. These sculptures represent one aspect of the artifacts we will show in the new Museum, as we achieve our mission to remember, preserve and educate," he added.
In June 2001, an information display will be featured in the Main Lobby next to the Vimy Memorial sculpture exhibition. The display will provide text, images and video footage on the plans for the new Canadian War Museum scheduled to open in four years. The display will be updated on a regular basis to keep visitors informed of the progress of the construction of the new Museum. It will also include information pamphlets about Passing the Torch, the fundraising campaign in support of a new Canadian War Museum. The campaign began in 1995 and has received, since then, numerous donations and pledges from individuals, veterans' groups, charitable foundations and corporations from across Canada. The Passing the Torch fundraising campaign's goal is $15 million, and to date, $10 million have been raised.
Stone Carvers Book Signing
On the same occasion, the Museum is holding a book signing by renowned author Jane Urquhart of her recently published best-selling novel, The Stone Carvers .
The novel follows the lives of several characters from Ontario swept into a colossal venture in Europe, years after the First World War, as a Toronto sculptor's ambitious plans begin to take shape for a war memorial at Vimy, France. Partly about journeys, both emotional and actual, the novel moves back and forth across the Atlantic, following the paths of immigrants, labourers and wanderers, all of whom are attempting in one way or another to leave a record of their lives and to make solid the painful and beautiful history of their times.
The book signing will take place at 10:30 a.m. on May 3, 2001, in the Canadian Museum of Civilization's Main Lobby.
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