Learn more about the Wallace Collection at war in our free display.

In 1942, with the museum's treasures evacuated for safety, Hertford House became an unlikely stage for cultural diplomacy. Two exhibitions transformed the empty galleries into a forum for Anglo-Soviet friendship at a critical moment in the conflict.

Artists Aid Russia brought together over 900 works by living artists, from Augustus John to Jacob Epstein, with proceeds supporting Clementine Churchill's Red Cross Aid to Russia Fund. Twenty-Five Years of Progress, designed by Ernő Goldfinger, filled the galleries with bold photomontages and banners celebrating Soviet achievements and Allied unity.

Launched by Soviet Ambassador Ivan Maisky and his wife Agniya, these exhibitions reveal how art, propaganda and architecture were mobilised to strengthen wartime alliances.

Our free display, opening in April 2026, draws on newly revisited archives, surviving catalogues and artworks actually shown in 1942 to illuminate how the Wallace Collection contributed to Britain's wartime cultural front.

The Artists Aid Russia exhibition played a key role in Clementine Churchill’s wartime fundraising campaign to send medical equipment and clothing to Russia to help in the fight against fascism. Winston Churchill contributed by signing an exhibition catalogue, which was sold to raise funds. This display complements our exhibition Winston Churchill: The Painter, which brings together over 50 of Churchill’s paintings.