War Paint: Women At War
Margy Kinmonth examines the perspective of war as defined by female artists past and present.
Behind the lens: Lee Miller
Image courtesy of Conic.
Whether as director, writer or producer Margy Kinmonth specialises in films about art and she recently had a great success with her cinema documentary Eric Ravilious: Drawn to War. She continues in comparable territory with her new film about artists whose work centred on their response to war, but this time all of those whose work is featured are women. At the back of her mind is the question of the extent to which in this context their art reveals a female sensitivity distinct from that of male artists. Nevertheless, what impresses most in her film is the range of artists covered including not only such familiar names as Dame Laura Knight, Maggi Hambling and Lee Miller but many less widely known.
In effect what Kinmonth’s film offers is a series of interviews with women artists operating today together with contributions from the descendants of others who have died. But in all cases, they are linked to images which illustrate the nature of the work including that of painters, photographers, video artists and engravers. Early on we meet the Ukrainian Zhanna Kadyrova who creates installations which reflect what she has seen in the war zone and are expressive in highly individual ways. Other contemporary art will feature later but some of the most striking sequences are concerned with art from the 1940s among them portrayals of the blitz and a particularly memorable painting by the late Doris Zinkeisen who was present in 1945 at the liberation of Belsen. Unexpected and haunting too is the work undertaken by Dame Laura Knight at the Nuremberg trials where as an official war artist she was able to paint scenes in the courtroom.
Kinmonth’s film features its chosen artists turn by turn while also incorporating passing references to others too – Olga Lehmann, Gladys Hynds and Priscilla Thornycroft being among those touched on in this way. Kinmonth herself becomes a presence from time to time and her mother who was a cryptographer working at Bletchley Park during World War II puts in a brief appearance as well. Nothing here lasts for too long and for many the film will provide a useful introduction while also encouraging them to seek out more elsewhere about the artists featured. War Paint: Women at War is also a film which is aptly judged when it comes to the range of the material included. The different art forms and the different periods ensure that the film offers real variety. What is lacking however is any great sense of an overall shape albeit that the last section does take on a fresh tack by concentrating on war art of a memorial nature, be that a literal structure (Vienna’s holocaust memorial and Washington's Vietnam Veterans memorial being examples of that) or a memorial quilt. It could also be argued that the material covered here would be even better suited to a television series spread over three weekly half-hour episodes thus allowing breathing spaces between its sections. However, the art works do gain from being seen on a bigger screen and audiences who applauded Kinmonth’s Eric Ravilious film are likely to find this new piece very much to their liking.
By way of a footnote, I would just add that the film's title provokes thoughts, not necessarily ones intended. On balance the title feels more clumsy than clever. The phrase ‘war paint’ brings to mind North American Indians preparing for battle which is hardly apt, while the fact that this film is not limited to paintings makes it only partly applicable in any event. Furthermore, in a literal sense the artists are not ‘at war’ since they are not combatants. On the other hand, the title does hint at something else which is in keeping with the film. These female artists have certainly not taken up arms but, by choosing to express their deepest feelings about war, it does seem that without standard weapons they are nevertheless engaged in their own way in a battle against mankind’s propensity to go to war. Seen in that light, their hopes bring up a question not new but always pertinent: can art ever bring about change?
MANSEL STIMPSON
Featuring Zhanna Kadyrova, Linda Kitson, Shirin Neshat, Nina Berman, Jananne Al-Ani, Assil Diab, Dame Rachel Whiteread, Fiona Banner, Marcelle Hanselaar, Cornelia Parker, Maggi Hambling, Maya Lin, Ami Bouhassane, Charlotte Johnstone, Mehzebin Adam-Suter, Kathleeen Kinmonth-Warren, Margy Kinmonth.
Dir Margy Kinmonth, Pro Margy Kinmonth, Screenplay Margy Kinmonth, Ph Hannah Engelson and Amy Newstead, Ed Sheryl Sandler, Music Charli Mackie.
Foxtrot Films-Conic.
90 mins. UK. 2024. UK Rel: 28 March 2025. Cert. 12A.
