All too often during Remembrance periods we only think of those who died and we forget the multitudes who returned from war with physical and mental traumas. Not so for Elaine Goble, an artist from Orleans, Ontario, who has recently been given an exhibition of her artwork at the Canadian War Museum. Elaine has completed a series of fourteen portraits of Second World War veterans and survivors that she has met over the years, detailing the physical and emotional impacts of their experiences. People such as William Noble, a fighter pilot who lost his voice or Doris Hope who listened to U-Boat transmissions and wears the Bletchley Park Medal along with others who spent time in concentration camps, losing most of their families there, and another gentleman who, as a young man, was forced into the Hitler Youth near the end of the war.
Although some of these paintings show pain and distress they are also inspirational. One poignant story is of Kenneth Edwards whose portrait is of him on Remembrance Day in 2000 but there is also a portrait of him with his grandson, Stephen Burns, as he lay in his bed during his final days in 2018. Stephen told me that his family has served in the military from himself, father, grandfather (Kenneth), great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather so the family has a rich military history. Doris Hope lobbied for women’s rights in the military while William Dunstan brought smiles to people as an entertainer as a female impersonator. The most recent work is of Pvt. Philip Favel, a 98-year old veteran who took part in the 1944 Normandy invasion. Pvt. Favel was a member of the Cree First Nation in Saskatchewan and fought for equal compensation for Indigenous veterans after the war. Sadly, these people are no longer with us with Pvt. Favel passing just months after the completion of his portrait in 2021.
It is vital to Elaine’s process that she personally knows the stories and people that she depicts. She has conversations with them and photoshoots acting not only as an artist but a diarist, trying to bring significant details into the pictures such as a talisman, a medal, or a missing limb, to illustrate the trauma and memories of war. As a result, the pictures are uncompromising in their depiction of the physical and emotional impacts of war.
Elaine had her first exhibition in 1977 at York University’s Founders Art Gallery and has been shown in the Canadian Museum of History, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and the Art Gallery of Peterborough. Her works are found in numerous collections, including those of the Canadian War Museum, the City of Ottawa, the Canada Council Art Bank, the Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queen’s University and the Canadian Military Engineers Museum. In 2005, she was commissioned by the Royal Canadian Mint to design the 25-cent commemorative coin depicting the Year of the Veteran containing images of soldiers from World War I to Afghanistan.
The current exhibit, Homage – The Art of Elaine Goble, is at the Canadian War Museum from September 24th to the 12th December, 2021.
To see all the pictures from the preview event, Click Here:
