Michael St Maur Sheil
- j.prince@fieldsofbattle1418.org
- +44 (0)1689 858877
Mary Evans Picture Library
Mike St Maur Sheil's Battlefield Photography is exclusively represented at Mary Evans and the library is proud to be providing the images that illustrate and contextualise Mike’s stunning photographs in the Fields of Battle - Lands of Peace
14-18 exhibition.
Founded in 1964, Mary Evans Picture Library is the UK’s leading source for historical images. Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Blackheath-based library has been supplying pictures of the past to clients around the world for five decades since its founders, Mary, and her husband Hilary, first turned their hobby for collecting books, prints and pictures into a thriving business.
Drawing from its own vast archive of prints, periodicals, photographs, books and ephemera as well as the collections of over three hundred separate contributors large and small, every conceivable period and genre from prehistory to the 1980s is covered; and the library takes pride in ensuring the quirky and unexpected are available alongside the more familiar text book subjects. Hence the scope of the library’s content is wide ranging taking in travel, transport and places, domestic life, crime and punishment, politics, women’s suffrage, fashion, sport, royalty portraits, events, exploration, film, trade and industry, cartoons, science and nature, animals and, of course, war.
The library’s coverage of material from the First World War is equally comprehensive and in-depth including cartoons from British, French and German periodicals, patriotic postcards, stereoscope images, recruitment posters from the National Army Museum, trench art, music sheets, cigarette cards, commemorative china, covers and illustrations from magazines as well as thousands of photographs reflecting life on the home front and numerous fighting fronts. The wartime cartoons of Captain Bruce Bairnsfather and William Heath Robinson are available via the Illustrated London News archive, as are the silhouettes of Captain H L Oakley, best-known perhaps for his famous ‘Think’ and ‘Remember’ recruitment posters for the Army and Navy respectively.
With client-facing staff all having studied a history or history-related degree, the library is renowned for its expertise and knowledge and its particular specialism in the Great War period is underlined not only by a well-received blog on the subject, but also by a number of collaborative books using Mary Evans content and in-house writers.
To fnd out more and search the library’s online image database visit: www.maryevans.com
©Mary Evans Picture Library
©Mary Evans Picture Library
Learn more
The Exhibition
To date, Fields of Battle has been on display in The Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, London's St James's Park, Nottingham, Strasbourg and Istanbul. Click above to learn more about the exhibition and future destinations.
The Charitable Trust
Fields of Battle 14-18 is registered as a not-for-profit charity in the UK. It exists purely through the generosity of the public together with securing corporate sponsorship and grants.
Click above to find out more.
The Photographer
The original concept of the late broadcaster, historian and author, Professor Richard Holmes, it took photographer Mike St Maur Sheil eight years to complete the photography for Fields of Battle.
Video
View a short video on the inspiration behind Michael St Maur Sheil's journey capturing the emotional and historical heritage of landscapes which witnessed the monumental events of the
First World War.
Buy your own copies of Michael's Images
Click HERE or on the images below to visit a gallery of images for sale. Then simply click on the image you want, choose your product and order.
Michael says:
“This collection represents a legacy which I hope will create a gateway to the battlefields themselves, thus encouraging people to visit these historic landscapes during the centennial period and so create awareness and understanding of the events and historical implications of the First World War".
Mike St. Maur Sheil will be donating 5% of his profits from the sale of prints to the Fields of Battle 14-18 Charitable Trust.
Fields of Battle Catalogue
Originally created to coincide with the UK launch in St James's Park in 2014, a stunning 122 page, full colour exhibition catalogue is available to buy online.
A century on from the outbreak of hostilities, in a series of engaging photographs, Mike has documented the power of nature and time to effect a transformation from the gruesome past and create landscapes whose very shape preserves the memories of The Great War in vistas of peace and tranquility.
Featuring personal insights into many of the inages by the photographer, allied with fascinating maps and facts, the catalogue brings the project to life for the reader.
It is further enhanced by a selection of moving archive images from the Mary Evans Image Library, of the landscapes and those that fought there a century ago.
Click the catalogue images to the right to buy your copy securely online.
