Trench Art: An Illustrated History

Rating:
Summary: A Must Have reference
Review: I have been collecting trench art seriously for about 18 years and am happy to say that Jane Kimball's new book is, bar none, the best reference I am aware of. Nothing else even comes close.

Several years ago I asked a militaria dealer if he knew of any good reference books on trench art, as I had never found one which had any substantial coverage. He said that there wasn't one, but that he knew of "a young lady in California who is working on a book." He put me in touch, and Kimball and I have been corresponding ever since. (She has also been kind enough to include four pieces from my own collection in chapters 5 and 6.)

Kimball is a retired research librarian from the University of California, and her professional expertise shows up wonderfully in her book. She knows how to do research, and the importance of (unobtrusive) footnotes. Her text is well written, but insofar as she can she lets the words of the makers and their contemporaries speak for themselves, and the art for itself.

"Trench Art: An Illustrated History" concentrates on material produced during and shortly after the First World War, the first great efflorescence of this until now rather obscure world-wide form of folk art. However, Kimball covers the earlier history of soldier art and prisoner of war art in order to provide the reader with a historical context for its development, and also covers the subsequent production during the Interwar Period, WWII itself, and a once over lightly of the post-WWII era. Trench art is still being produced today, and will likely continue as long as there is conflict.

She has ferreted out and included here the numerous, but generally brief, references to trench art buried in now obscure publications during and after the Great War and brought them together to provide a greater understanding of the part trench art played in the daily lives of soldiers and their families.

The illustrations are generally excellent, though space constraints even in this hefty book required making some smaller than ideal. Still, they are clear and crisply printed in color, with good captions, and the variety within types is enormously helpful.

Trench art is an area with so little reference material published that even those of us who have been collecting for years can't know what is out there until we actually see it. I estimate that I have looked at (mostly on the Internet) well over thirty-thousand pieces, and Kimball has surely seen far more than that. Her collection, which makes up the great majority of the illustrations here, is composed of the cream of what she has come across.

Culled from tens of thousands of examples viewed over many years, the hundreds of pieces here provide an excellent overview of the varieties of form, both common and rare, which make trench art such a fascinating form of folk art from around the world.

Kimball's scholarly approach, accompanied by massive footnotes (10 pages worth) and a five page bibliography provide the general collector with interesting and reliable data, and the scholar with plenty of leads for further research.

Rating:
Summary: Hammer+shell case = art
Review: I was quite pleased to see this book come to the stands.
The text as well as the photos tell how trench art came about, and goes on to explain how the many different effects were reached. Ms. Kimball illustrates the many different
forms that trench art can take and the varied materials used in the creating of this art form. A GREAT BOOK !!!

Mac West

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