Alfred Bastien served in the Belgian Army from 1915. Designated an official artist in 1916, he was placed at the disposal of the Canadian War Records Office in October 1917 and assigned to paint for the Canadian War Memorials Fund. Most of his time was spent with the French-speaking 22nd Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, one result of which was Over the Top, Neuville-Vitasse. Neuville-Vitasse, located just south of Arras, was the site of heavy fighting in 1918.
The Canadian War Museum (CWM) (French: Musée canadien de la guerre) is a national museum on the country’s military history in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The museum serves as both an educational facility on Canadian military history and a place of remembrance. The 40,860 square metres (439,800 sq ft) museum building is situated south of the Ottawa River in LeBreton Flats. The museum houses a number of exhibitions and memorials, in addition to a cafeteria, theatre, curatorial and conservation spaces, as well as storage space. The building also houses the Military History Research Centre, the museum’s library and archives.
The Canadian War Museum was formally established in 1942, although portions of the museum’s collections originate from a military museum that operated from 1880 to 1896. The museum was operated by the Public Archives of Canada until 1967, when the National Museums of Canada Corporation was formed to manage several national institutions, including the war museum. In the same year, the war museum was relocated from its original building to the former Public Archives of Canada building. Management of the museum was later assumed by the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation (later renamed the Canadian Museum of History Corporation) in 1990. Plans to expand the museum during the mid-1990s resulted in the construction of a new building at LeBreton Flats. Designed by Moriyama & Teshima Architects and Griffiths Rankin Cook Architects, the new Canadian War Museum building was opened to the public in 2005.
The museum’s collection contains more than 500,000 items related to military history, including more than 13,000 works of military art. In addition to its permanent exhibition, the museum has hosted and organized a number of travelling exhibitions relating to Canadian military history.
