Trench Art by Nicholas J. Saunders

Trench art is the evocative but misleading name given to a dazzling array of objects associated mainly with the First World War and the inter-war years 1914-39. Many items are recycled battlefield debris, notably artillery shell cases often decorated with Art Nouveau motifs. Other objects made from bullets and shrapnel; include letter openers, cigarette lighters, enigmatic crucifixes, and miniature aeroplanes and tanks. Equally ingenious are talismanic and ‘sweetheart’ jewellery, embroideries, and such items carved from stone, wood or bone. This book describes the different types of trench art, the techniques used to make them, and their historical and personal values to the soldiers, prisoners of war and families who made and bought them. Long ignored, trench art reveals a lost world of the Great War and its aftermath.

Author: Nicholas J. Saunders