Peter Kennard: Unofficial War Artist, IWM London

The Imperial War Museum explores the work of Britain’s most important political artist, with 200 works spanning the 50-year career of Peter Kennard. A painter by training, Kennard is famous for his iconic photomontage commentaries on global political tensions and war. His striking graphics have become world-renowned symbols of political activism, and have inspired the likes of Mark Wallinger and Banksy.
IWM London exhibition highlights
Look out for Kennard’s seminal series, Stop, which features paintings of the political unrest in the 1960s – from the Paris student riots to the American anti-Vietnam War protests. This collection spotlights Kennard’s political awakening as a young student activist.
Also worth a look is the Decoration series, a body of work from much later in Kennard’s career, which responded to the 2003 Iraq war. These photomontages are based on US and UK military medals - but the flags and ribbons are frayed, and the medallions are replaced with the bandaged heads of war victims.
Haywain with Cruise Missiles
Make sure you check out the specially designed area of the exhibition that feels like an archival store. Here, Kennard’s photomontages from the 1970s and 80s are displayed in their original forms, alongside various distributions of posters, badges, placards and t-shirts. These pieces include Haywain with Cruise Missiles - Kennard’s satirical re-working of John Constable’s Haywain, which comments on the location of an American Missile base in Greenham Common.
Boardroom
Unofficial War Artist finishes with another specially created art installation for the show entitled, Boardroom. This piece examines the history of conflict, juxtaposing Kennard’s recurrent violent imagery with a numerical audit of the human and financial cost of war.
This much-anticipated exhibition promises to provide a provocative and eye-opening insight into politics, conflict and war.