Art of Nation: Revisiting Will Dyson’s War Work in a Digital Art Exhibition

This article considers the work of official war artist Will Dyson in the context of the Australian War Memorial’s 2017 online interactive exhibition, Art of Nation: Australia’s Official Art and Photography of the First World War. A digital realisation of Charles Bean’s original vision for the memorial, Art of Nation revealed how individuals who witnessed the First World War attempted to commemorate it. Dyson was central to both shaping Bean’s plans and creating the memorial’s art collection. He was a renowned artist of the period, whose works were a prized part of this collection, yet today he is little known. This article considers both the reasons for his renown and importance during and immediately after the war and why this acclaim did not last, as an example of how national memory is shaped and reshaped.