Word War I and Early Modern Art

World War I was obviously a horrific event in our history as over 15 million people died and beautiful landscapes and cities were destroyed. This was also considered the first modern war because of the modern weapons that were used during this time. These weapons were a huge reason for why this war was so deadly and such a disaster. Tanks, airplanes, grenades, machine guns and poison gasses were invented. However, since all the countries were using similar weapons to fight one another, it basically led to a long drawn out stalemate with people continuing to die left and right. The war ultimately ended with the Austria-Hungarian empire and the Ottoman empire dissolving, and the Soviet-Union forming. The League of Nations was also created to prevent another World War from occurring. However, they obviously failed to do so as World War II came soon after which was anticipated by some people of the United States like John Maynard Keynes. As Word War I was a huge event and basically everyone was involved in some form or another, it also influenced the arts. The Dada movement was a reactive movement protesting the brutality and senselessness of the war. Dadaism was supposed to portray the opposite of art, to be considered anti art. This concept was really difficult for me to grasp at first, but I sort of understand it as the (anti)artists slightly making fun of the war by producing meaningless and irrational art because they viewed the war as meaningless and irrational.

Fountain by Marcel Duchamp

The first piece that I found to be the most irrational piece of art was Fountain by Marcel Duchamp “made” in 1917. I put quotation marks because Duchamp only purchased the item and signed it “R. Mutt 1917” and then tried to display it. This obviously received a lot of negative feedback from many people and the original is actually nowhere to be found now so Duchamp has reproduced it a few times. Duchamp actually defended this piece stating that he had “created a new thought for that object.” He disagreed with others who claimed that art must be a “craft of the hand” and that art really only should have something to do with  the artist’s idea’s of/for the work. I feel like this is a little farfetched to be considered art and I also believe Duchamp was being sarcastic with this piece, but it has stayed famous for all this time and has gotten a lot of attention so maybe Duchamp was on to something.
As Dadaism became more mainstream, the Dada artists dissolved their (non)movement as this was the opposite direction they were going for.

The War Cripples by Otto Dix

An artist that also stood out to me a lot was German painter/printer Otto Dix. He was also at one point part of the Dada movement. He entered his painting The War Cripples painted in 1920 in Berlin in the First International Dada Fair. I chose this piece due to its interesting history. This painting made it out of the First International Dada Fair, where other artists and their paintings weren’t as lucky as the military filed charges of insult against several artists at the exhibition. Sadly though, when Hitler came to power, the painting was seized and hung up in the Nazi’ Degenerate Art Exhibition and was titled Slander against the German Heroes of the World War. I think Dix was trying to display the cripples still having a sense of national pride even though the war was irrational and unnecessary which he didn’t understand. It was definitely influenced by the war and the horrors that came with it. Sadly the location of this painting is unknown and is presumed to have been destroyed.

Ruined Country by Paul Nash

My third piece that I wanted to discuss was Ruined Country by Paul Nash. His paintings were very obviously depictions of the world we had destroyed during the war. He was born in London and was already an artist prior to the war. During the war, in 1916, he became a lieutenant and went to the Western Front. At one point, he fell into a trench and broke his rib leaving him to be one of the lucky men to leave the Western Front alive. However, he produced a lot of sketches during his time there and created a series of paintings from his sketches which were put on display in 1917. Due to this series, he was appointed a war artist by the British War Propaganda Bureau. Nash also returned later on to produce another series of paintings of the land that had been destroyed. Ruined Country was one of the paintings he produced here. I chose this painting because it seemed less “dark” than the other paintings he produced here and I already have crippled men in my blog.

I felt like the pieces that came after the war had no more glamour in them like the previous eras/movements. They focused on the middle class and the war. They were much more abstract. There were no more beautiful women and flowers flying through the wind and little cupid’s and lily pads making a beautiful painting, but much more dark depictions of the world and what it has become. I think the modern war led people to see the world as a darker place as we learned then what we are capable of.

Works Cited

“Catalog Paintings – Otto Dix.” The Online Otto Dix Project. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.

“What Dada Was and Why It Matters.” About.com Education. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.

Haycock, David. “PAUL NASH, War Artist.” World War Pictures. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.

“Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917/1964.” SFMOMA. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.

“Paul Nash.” Voices Compassion Education. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.