I am responding to two articles that I have read. The first is the "Horror Is a Constant, as Artists Depict War" by Alissa Y. Rubin and the second is "When Modern Art Met Modern Warfare" by Ann-Marie Michel. Rubin started off her article with a very gory description detailing one of Francisco de Goya's etchings. The article then goes on to describe how "the atrocities that war reporter record and that seem new are, in fact, centuries old..." Rubin brings up questions that artists, journalists, and even the common people struggle with when attempting to understand "the story of war". By asking rhetorical questions such as "Are blood and gore the most important things to portray, or is it the moment of utter grief that follows?" the author urges her readers to look further than the pictures and headlines thrown at us by the media at the emotions of war and to analyze them through our own looking glasses.
Michel's article starts out focusing more on World War I than on war in general. She poses one important, all-encompassing question to guide her article: "The extraordinary numbers - 17 million men deployed, 9 million dead - pose a problem for any exhibition. These men are no longer with us, so how do we connect with that human experience." The author also describes how countries that were involved in the first world war reacted in terms of art after the war was over and the world dealt with the devastation that followed. One specific painting addressed in this article spoke to me. I find the bleak colors that seem solid at first, but were clearly made with several hues and gradients appropriately describe the grief of war when it is over and there is not more fighting to distract from the harsh reality of death.
Michel's article starts out focusing more on World War I than on war in general. She poses one important, all-encompassing question to guide her article: "The extraordinary numbers - 17 million men deployed, 9 million dead - pose a problem for any exhibition. These men are no longer with us, so how do we connect with that human experience." The author also describes how countries that were involved in the first world war reacted in terms of art after the war was over and the world dealt with the devastation that followed. One specific painting addressed in this article spoke to me. I find the bleak colors that seem solid at first, but were clearly made with several hues and gradients appropriately describe the grief of war when it is over and there is not more fighting to distract from the harsh reality of death.
Youth Mourning
George Clausen
1916
George Clausen
1916
If there is one question I would very much like to explore after reading and responding to these articles it is this: How do the differences between actually being present during the violence of war and simply perceiving what the media shows us affect the ways in which we comprehend and react to war?