The Great War's Influence on Modern Art

A Brief History

World War I, also known as the Great War, had many ramifications resulting from the newly emerging era of the Industrial Revolution, and it drastically changed the movement of artistic expression away from the Impressionist period to the beginnings of what we now know today as Modern Art. Many historians still debate on what circumstances were the cause of the war, though everyone can agree the assassination of ArchDuke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 was the first stone thrown. The hunger for more power, the fickle alliances between countries and empires, and an evolving arms race were all contributing factors that would shape and define the 20th and 21st Centuries.

Europe on the Eve of World War I, 1914

Before the war, the Romantic Period dominated the art world, which had developed from the traditional styles of the Baroque and Classical Eras. Romanticism, Realism, and Impressionism took hold over the frivolity of the Rococo style, and though the seriousness and linear aspects of the Neo-Classical movement lasted into the beginning of the Romantic Period, it too soon gave way to the more traditional subject matter of religion, fantasy, landscapes, and dream-like depictions. These same traditional styles heavily influenced the growing dissension among artists against the Impressionist movement. Seeing the cruelties and tragedies happening during the war, motivation for new subject matter was needed by many artists for they began to turn away from the unrealistic schemes and peaceful images of Impressionism. They began to create non-traditional art forms in styles that portrayed their growing abhorrence and disgust of the powerful and wealthy traditional monarchies and empires; whose actions, these artists felt, started the Great War in the first place.

Transitioning Away from Tradition

Out of the rubble of Romanticism came the Avant-Garde styles of cubism, fauvism, expressionism, and futurism. No longer was art under the guidelines of conformity. The unpredictable and unplanned art piece began to emerge, hosting a nuance of unexpected colors and lines. These styles would eventually morph into a more abstract and expressive Dada movement, leading artists even further away from the nationalistic ideology they felt propelled the course of the war, "their interests lay primarily in rebelling against what they saw as cultural snobbery, bourgeois convention, and political support for the war" (Dada Movement, Artists, and Major Works).

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson

C. R. W. Nevinson, born in 1889, joined the Red Cross in 1914 and served with the Royal Army Medical Corps until 1916. One of his paintings, The Machine Gun, depicted the influence of the Industrial Revolution with a mechanized approach to warfare. As seen below, the lines and shapes of

The Machine Gun, 1915 by C.R.W. Nevinson

the image portrays a machine-like quality. The outlines of the men, machine gun, and scenery are bold and thick. There are no soft lines, or vibrant colors painted, only muted hues of brown, blue, and red separated by darkness and shadow. Nevinson was a pacifist, and his artwork portrayed his sentiments on war, and the cost of it. This image is painted in a way to showcase the harsh reality of the machine gun, a weapon that causes multiple deaths in an instant. The blank and dark faces of the soldiers mimic this detached sentiment, as there is a void of expression in each face.

After he was discharged from the Corps, he began working for the War Propaganda Bureau, where he was sent to the Western Front to obtain subject matter for his work. The piece, Paths of Glory, was influenced by his journeys there, and from the poem by Thomas Gray, titled Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard,
"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Awaits alike the inevitable hour.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave" (33-36).

Paths of Glory, 1917 by C. R. W. Nevinson

Nevinson portrayed the deaths of two British soldiers, nameless and faceless, lying in the mud. The barbed wire fencing identifies this area as the Western Front. The browns of the landscape blend in with the dead soldiers uniforms, the almost indiscernible forms of their bodies being absorbed by the ground. This symbolizes the cost of war, how the soldiers fighting for nationalistic pride of their respective countries will soon become forgotten as their bodies turn to dust where they fall.
It was this horror and disgust of the mounting casualties, gruesome injuries, and repercussions of chemical warfare Nevinson had seen first hand on the front that led him to paint images and propaganda pieces, which were often times censored because they did not follow the sentiment of what the government wanted the people to see. Only his working relationship with certain people within the War Propaganda Bureau allowed for his pieces to show and circulate to the public. It was these paintings, among those done by other artists, which helped spur the Dada movement, as the cost of war was seen as being incredibly high, and the suffering caused by the new age of modernized warfare was finally being shown around the world.

John Singer Sargent

John Singer Sargent was one of the leading painters of the Impressionist/Post-Impressionist era. However, in his early 60s he was commissioned by the British government "to do justice to the sobering horrors of conflict" and was sent to France. There he personally witnessed the aid being delivered to soldiers injured by a mustard gas attack at Le Bac-du-Sud by the Germans. The men were seen as he painted them in the picture below, being led to the dressing station single file with blinds over their eyes (Glover).

Gassed, 1919 by John Singer Sargent

This painting provides an accurately painful depiction of the ramifications of war. Rows upon rows of blinded troops suffering under the effects of poison gas, many of them would not make it, while those who lived would be permanently blinded and have respiratory problems and scarred skin from the gas burns for the rest of their lives. This piece was voted Picture of the Year in 1919, for the powerful impact it provided.

Conclusion

Nevinson and Sargent are only two out of the many artists who left the the traditional styles of the Romantic and Impressionist/Post-Impressionist Period behind. World War I had much impact on the change happening within the art world and the coming of Modernism. Many past ideals of what was considered artistic began to be seen as trivial when compared to the real-life suffering occurring in the world. This opened the way for a new movement, one which provided no rules and left the aesthetic appreciation of art open to interpretation. Dada Art was known as the Anti-Art, because it "challenged what Art was", and artists no longer wanted to be a part of art the same guided principles that was creating chaos and danger across Europe (Art as Concept, khanacademy). Dr. Steven Zucker states that there is a level of cynicism within Dada, which is "related to the objectives of Dada, which was to undermine the way in which we valued art" (Art as Concept, khanacademy).

In Advance to the Broken Arm, 1915 by Marcel Duchamp

For example, Marcel Duchamp's piece In Advance of the Broken Arm seems to be nothing more than a snow shovel. However, if this piece is viewed without the preconceived notions of what traditional art is, and seen as a protest of confined boundaries, a snow shovel can mean so much more.  Basically, a snow shovel is just a snow shovel unless you put it on a pedestal and call it art.

My Aesthetic Response

War always has a lasting impact, good or bad, on the people and environment affected by it. I chose this influence for the post on my blog because I appreciate the lengths to which these artists went in order to protest against something they saw was destroying the world, and the things they loved living within it. They paved the way for a new way of looking at art, or not looking at art. As for In Advance to the Broken Arm, I feel the perceived cynicism in the "sculpture" as anything can be art and nothing can be art.

The Machine Gun gives me the feeling of a before and after when compared to Paths of Glory, almost as if Nevinson was showing the weapon first, and its victims second. I like how he made The Machine Gun stand out with its lines and colors. I see the mechanically cold perception of the gun and the anonymous soldiers holding it.  

The paintings Paths of Glory and Gassed elicit many feelings from me when I look at them. I see my and my husband's friends, brothers who have returned physically and mentally scarred, with missing limbs, those who returned home only to take their own lives, and those who didn't return home at all. It's a bittersweet and painful feeling of remembering them, making sure they are not forgotten among the chaos of war like two British soldiers lying in the mud. I think this is the feeling of outrage and anguish Nevinson and Sargent wanted the people to experience; the knowledge of what power, wealth, and prideful arrogance can cause and the sacrifices of those remembered by their families and friends and only briefly recognized by the populace. Nevinson and Sargent saw the numbers of deaths and injuries, witnessed the maiming of limbs from the advanced weaponry new to the times, and knew they had to memorialize it.

 I personally appreciate some of the poetry and literature that arose during this time. My favorite poem is called In Flander's Fields by John McCrae, and it's one I share on my Facebook every Memorial Day.

In Flander's Fields, May 1915 John McCrae memorial book close-up

If you have ever wondered about the red poppy on Memorial Day, this is where it comes from. The fields in Europe are covered with them, so it is an accurate assumption that these WWI soldiers died among them. Last year, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the start of the war, a massive art project was being created, to finish on Armistice Day, 11 of November 2014, at the Tower of London. Individually hand-crafted ceramic red poppies were planted, one for every British and Colonial Soldier who died during the war, all 888,246 of them (Final Tower of London). This visual reminder is a heart-breaking reality of the cost of war

Tower of London Poppies

  

London Tower Red Poppy Field, taken by Simon Mason

I wish I could have seen this in person, but the poppies are now all gone. They were auctioned off, the money going to different charities. Whenever I look at these pictures I am moved to tears. This representation of lives lost during WWI only further emphasizes the influence this war had on art, back then and up to the present, and the birth of the Dada movement.

Works Cited

"Dada Movement, Artists, and Major Works." theartstory.org. The Art Story Foundation, 2014. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. http://www.theartstory.org/movement-dada.htm.

  "Europe on the Eve of War." Map. ww.norton.Web. 2 Apr. 2015. http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/ralph/resource/wwi.htm 

"Gassed." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 9 Mar. 2014. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gassed_%28painting%29#/media/File:Sargent,_John_Singer_%28RA%29_-_Gassed_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg 

Glover, Michael. "Great Works: Gassed (1919) by John Singer Sargent." independent.co.uk. Independent.co.uk, 31 May 2013. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/great-works-gassed-1919-by-john-singer-sargent-8637923.html 

Gray, Thomas. "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard." thomasgray.org. Thomas Gray Archive, 2000. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. http://www.thomasgray.org/cgi-bin/display.cgi?text=elcc.

"In Advance to the Broken Arm." wikiart.org. WikiArt, n.d. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. http://www.wikiart.org/en/marcel-duchamp/in-advance-of-the-broken-arm-1915 

"In Flander's Fields." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Feb. 2015. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Flanders_Fields#/media/File:Johnmccraememorialbookcloseup02.JPG

Jones, Bryony. "Final Tower of London poppy 'planted' on Armistice Day." cnn.com. CNN, 11 Nov. 2014. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/07/world/europe/tower-of-london-poppies/

Khan, Sal and Dr. Steven Zucker. "Art as Concept: Duchamp, In Advanced of the Broken Arm." khanacademy.org. Khan Academy, 8 May 2014. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/wwI-dada/dada1/v/duchamp-s-shovel-art-as-concept

"London Tower Red Poppy Field." @WineBoar. Twitter Feed, Sep. 2014. Web. 2 Apr. 2014.  http://i0.wp.com/royal-fans.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/London-Tower-Red-Poppy-field-Simon-Mason-@WineBoar-Twitter-Feed.png?resize=650%2C367

"Paths of Glory." iwm.org.uk. Imperial War Museums, 2014. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/20211

"The Machine Gun." tate.org.uk. Tate.org, Jul. 2007. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/nevinson-la-mitrailleuse-n03177 

"Tower of London Poppies." express.co.uk. Northern and Shell Media Publications, 2015. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/1/590x/tower-of-london-poppies-532317.jpg

"Who's Who: Christopher Nevinson." FirstWorldWar.com. Michael Duffy, 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/nevinson_christopher.htm