Artist unveils War Memorial painting that was ten years in the making and the tragic loss of one Bermondsey soldier – Southwark News

Rotherhithe artist Ed Gray has just completed a monumental work that depicts the poignant service at the war memorial in West Lane on Remembrance Sunday that commemorates the brave people who have died in wars.

It is called, simply, Remembrance, West Lane, Rotherhithe

It is a painting that has been about ten years in the making but early thoughts began when Gray would go along to the service and remember his grandfathers who served in WW1, and his late parents who grew up between the wars.

‘I looked at the faces of people in the crowd, people that returned year after year, and some of an earlier generation who’d fought in WW2.’ When his children were old enough he would take them too.

‘We’d have conversations about the wars, the nature of warfare, and European politics. They were interested to know more as they have friends in their schools who come from war-torn countries in the Middle East and closer to home in Ukraine…’ 

His words fade away. Then, ‘I thought about all the separated families, about military service and conscription, all of these scenes being replayed on TV and discussions in the media. I thought about how I’d feel if our own son joined the army; I’d have mixed feelings,’ he says softly.

‘The conversations I was having with them were difficult, given their innocence. They were conversations I imagined my family having over and over in the last century.’

At some point Gray began noticing more and more stickers and graffiti in the street about Putin and war criminals. ‘That made me think that I’d put off making this painting for too long,’ he says. ‘These thoughts needed to find their way to canvas.’

But transferring thoughts, and the sketches he made, in to an artwork came with its own problems: ‘Making a painting about a crowd standing still was much more difficult than I’d appreciated. Only one person is moving, the old soldier leaving the wreath; normally my paintings are full of movement,’ he exclaims, the distress this caused with the painting revisiting his face. ‘I also realised I couldn’t see the memorial through the crowd I was painting, which meant that there was no centre to the painting.’

But solutions were found: ‘I began to think of the people being like poppies in a wreath. Imaging them as an object allowed me to shift the perspective up and down. I kept reworking canvases – I worked on five versions over five months. The last version two months ago and it seemed to work. In the final version the wreath in the soldier’s hand is almost like a crown for the young fellow, as if it’s a coronation.’

Ed Gray’s art always has stories hidden away. What stories does this painting hold? 

‘A friend told me about ‘A Street Near You’, a very poignant website created by the War Graves Commission that allows you to look up soldiers who died in the Great War and where they lived, the artist begins.

Ed Gray & Corporal George Mitchell

‘That’s when I found out about Corporal George Mitchell whose family lived at 21 West Lane. He was fighting in France when his father was taken ill. George was granted compassionate leave but overstayed when his father died.’

Ed showed me an old postcard George had sent to his parents talking about the trouble he would be in. Holding it in my hands brought a rush of every evil that war brings. 

When Corporal George Mitchell, Bermondsey Boy, returned to France he was demoted to the rank of Private as punishment.

Tragically, he was killed just one month before the war ended. 

‘Who’s to know if the demotion contributed to the higher chance of his being killed,’ Ed suggested, evoking images of young men ordered to go “over the top”. ‘But discovering George’s story meant that my painting became an actual story of Remembrance because I painted him in the crowd, he is the only person looking us in the eye…’  What seemed like a minute’s silence befell the studio.

‘You have a certain style,’ I asked, changing the subject. ‘Where does it come from? 

‘Hard to answer that really,’ stalls the artist. ‘I love early Renaissance painting, the art of the Harlem Renaissance and LS Lowry; I like the sense of wonder in William Blake’s work… I always want to make art that moves people, emotionally but also physically, so your eyes have to work, you have to walk around the painting, like you would if you were looking for someone in a crowd.’

I looked for George Mitchell and found him quite quickly, glaring at me. A cold flush ran up my back. I shivered.

‘You’ve seen George,’ Ed said knowingly. But I was locked in this strange stare-off with the painting and couldn’t answer for a while.

What now this painting is finished?

‘It will go into my next exhibition,’ he replies. ‘Ideally, though, I’d like it to go to a museum collection.’

When prints go on sale of this artwork Ed reveals he will be raising money for War Child from the sales.

Last words?

‘I’m working on a painting about Peace, a sister painting to this one inspired by recent protest marches in London.’

Website: https://www.edgrayart.com/

Image Credits and Reference: https://southwarknews.co.uk/area/rotherhithe/artist-unveils-war-memorial-painting-that-was-ten-years-in-the-making-and-the-tragic-loss-of-one-bermondsey-soldier/