New Exhibition Opening

Behind the Wire

The Wartime Diary and Art of Robert Buckham

Please join us for the Opening Reception

on November 7, 2007 from 7 to 9pm.

Special guest Katy Hedalen, Vocalist, performs We'll Meet Again.

The financial support of Mercedes-Benz for this exhibition is gratefully acknowledged. We thank the British Pacific Properties for supporting the opening reception.

Behind the Wire: The Wartime Diary and Art of Robert Buckham

(WEST VANCOUVER, B.C.) – Opening November 7, 2007 and running through to February 9, 2008, the West Vancouver Museum presents BEHIND THE WIRE: THE WARTIME DIARY AND ART OF ROBERT BUCKHAM. The exhibition features evocative illustrations of WWII from artist Robert Buckham’s prisoner of war diary, journal and artwork. Also included are illustrations and paintings the artist produced after the war.

On his tenth bombing sortie over Germany on April 8, 1943, Captain Robert Buckham and the crew of his Wellington MK.III bomber were downed near Dusseldorf. Miraculously, the entire crew survived. Buckham was captured and imprisoned in the infamous prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III in Sagan, Germany. In his illustrated war time diaries, Buckham recorded his internment, the trials of day to day existence, the failed “great escape” popularized by the Hollywood movie and his eventual “forced march to freedom” through one of Europe’s coldest winters.

Buckham concealed his precious diary and drawings in old milk cans in order to protect them during the months he and over 10, 000 other PoWs endured a forced march in the dead of winter westward through Germany in front of the Russian advance. Those who survived were eventually liberated and in 1945, Buckham returned to Canada to resume his career as an illustrator and artist. His drawings of Canada’s countryside and cityscapes graced the pages of the Globe and Mail for many years. His art was inspired by nature and local landscapes, as well as his frequent travels.

A VIEW THROUGH TREES

West Vancouver has been blessed with magnificent natural surroundings. Above all, it is the forest that has shaped the community’s history that colours its present and challenges its future.

Saturday November 17, 1:30-3pm
Please join Elspeth Bradbury, the author of recently published book West Vancouver: A View Through the Trees, who will describe the relationship between plants and people through 10,000 years of co-evolution.

Admission for this talk is by donation

Registration is not required for this talk, but limited space is available for seating. Author’s autographed copies of the book are available for purchase. All proceeds from the book will be donated to the Lighthouse Park Preservation Society.

Graphic: Drawing of Western redcedar by Elspeth Bradbury, 2007