Imperial and Royal War Press Headquarters

Soon after the outbreak of war, the importance of photography and film for effective public relations was also recognized, alongside the more traditional fields of writing and the fine arts.

The oldest of them, de:Fritzi Ulreich (1865–1936), went to the south-eastern front in Belgrade in 1914 and painted the ruined fortifications there, as well as military cemeteries and individual graves.

A great number of pieces were created by this group including paintings, watercolors, drawings, posters, postcards, illustrations, sculptures.

The artists were sent to the various fighting fronts with formal credentials to show their status, along with black and yellow armbands labelled "Art" or "War Press Quarters".

Their task was defined as creating "propaganda effective for present use at home and abroad in order to put the achievements of the Wehrmacht in a true light, and for future use, as material that will serve to complement through art the written narrative of history and the subsequent glorification of military exploits.”[6] The artists were required to find "effective and interesting subjects from the life of the war".

[1] The best-known war painters who were members or associates of the KPQ were: Albin Egger-Lienz, Anton Faistauer, Anton Kolig, Ferdinand Andri, Alexander Demetrius Goltz, Oskar Laske, Karl Friedrich Gsur, Ludwig Heinrich Jungnickel, Alexander Pock, Victor von Eckhardt und Oskar Kokoschka.

[7] A large number of works by these and other KPQ artists are held the permanent exhibition of the Vienna Army History Museum today.

[11] They also attacked Italy for being in the war for purely-imperialistic reasons, and charged that Italian leaders were sacrificing ordinary soldiers’ blood for their own greedy interests.

[11] British Prime Minister David Lloyd George had not helped by stating that "if necessary Italy's war aims will be abandoned without consideration".