The alert at dawn;

This painting, "The alert at dawn, 27th Machine Gun Battalion in Greece" by Peter Mcintyre, depicts how dedicated men were, even at the crack of dawn, to do their duty. The man on the right, looking into the eyehole of the gun, has a wound on his arm, and there appears to be another man crouching down under the gun, for some reason hiding his face. It looks like an awkward position to me.. They also seem surprisingly calm. When I think about troopers in battle, or preparing for battle(which is what they seem to be doing here), my first thought is usually of them acting swiftly, as if they're in a hurry, or out of breath. These men seem to be incredibly peaceful, as if they know exactly what is going to happen, and nothing is going to go wrong. This painting, unlike the other pieces I had blogged about, has a more optimistic view of war.

image from http://www.warart.archives.govt.nz/

"No man's land" in WWI

This landscape painting by Paul Nash caught my eye because of it's simplicity, and yet the great message it gives. The message seems as if it would be angry, and anti-war. The dying trees(or cactuses?) on the barren land contribute a sadness to the work of art, and not only that, it seems very polluted. The rising sun behind that mountain, I think represents the fact that Nash felt that peace was trying to make its way through, but all of the hostility and feeling of hatred between the nations got in the way. But every day, the sun still rises, to expose itself and its presence. I also think that it still comes out because its light will drop on the ugly, dead wasteland and remind everyone of what they have caused. This is why the war was not a "war to end all wars," too many problems were left unsolved.

image from www.bbc.co.uk

Otto Dix; not only an artist, but once a soldier

World War I gave rise to new and surprising emotions, especially among painters. Also called "The Great War," it lasted four years and caused the deaths of 8 million. The empires of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia had collapsed. It was the first industrial war, with advances in technology, mass production and new human and economic resources. After the war, Europe had emerged as if it was tired, scared and brutally modernized. Because the war was a catalyst of revolution, it foreshadowed some after-effects that are still with us today.

Most of the artists who have portrayed the facts of war in their paintings were surrealists, impressionalists or functionalists. In their own unique ways, they showed the struggles, patriotism, etc of the war in their paintings.

The painting above, by Otto Dix, is called 'Sturmtruppe geht unter Gas,' (Stormtroops advancing under gas) and it depicts the horror of the poisonous gas used in battle(by the frightening masks, and the apparant struggle of the soldiers). Dix himself at one point in his life was affected by the many sights of war, as he was once part of the German army. He was seriously wounded several times, and he reported that he had several recurring nightmares afterwards. His experiences were depicted in paintings like this.

image from www.moma.org