CMC - Vimy Memorial Sculptures

The Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Canadian War Museum are presenting an exhibition of five spectacular First World War plaster sculptures in the Main Lobby of the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Consisting of ten figures, they form part of Walter Allward’s designs for the Vimy Memorial in France.

The five sculptures displayed are: Breaking the Sword, The Defenders, Sympathy for the Helpless, Knowledge, Truth and Sacrifice.

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. The memorial commemorates the 1917 Battle of Vimy Ridge in which 3,598 Canadians died and more than 7,000 were wounded. The sculptures form part of the rich but little known military heritage to be found in the collections of the Canadian War Museum.

The memorial was Canadian sculptor Walter Allward’s (1875–1955) 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.

The Canadian War Museum has 17 of Allward’s plaster figures. They are half the size of the stone figures on the memorial itself. Restoration of the plaster models began in 1999 in conjunction with the touring exhibition Canvas of War, which was on view at the Canadian Museum of Civilization from February 2000 to January 2001.

The resulting display of five of Allward’s sculptures is small but moving. It clearly exemplifies the Canadian War Museum’s mandate: to remember, to preserve and to educate.

The exhibition opens at the Canadian Museum of Civilization on May 4, 2001 and will be on display for four years.