Explorations of War in Art and Literature - Research Paper Example

War and Art Art is a platform used for portraying various issues in the society, and preserving the society’s history, values, culture and traditions. War is one significant issue in the society that calls for significant representation in art. Indeed, many artists have explored the theme of war in their works through various representations. These are artists range from those who participated in the war, and thus, giving actual accounts of events to those were not participants, but telling the story through their artwork. The war artists have explored sensory and visual dimensions of war that is always not presented in accounts of warfare or unwritten history. Artists have produced works of art that record their personal experience of war and illustrations on many aspects on war. When doing the artwork the artists are always concerned with presenting the work that shows how events occurred during the war. As they do this, the role of the artists is to embrace the cause of the war, the impacts of engaging in war and finally the education part of it. From the artwork, people are able to learn that war is not good. When looking at the work of art one might be attracted to its beauty although, not all art is intrinsically and classically beautiful. This is because of the materials, subject matter as well as the intention of the artist in that particular work of art. Sometimes the work of art provokes a deeper meaning than what is on the paintings (Hughes 76). This is true especially when artists present war events through art. World War II is a representation of a particular genre of art. From a research, it shows that WWII is more documented in art compared to the history of man. Throughout the war newsreels, radio report and commercial art remain as the main source of information to the public by informing them on how the war is progressing through comic books, posters, and newspaper cartoons. Through paintings and sketches, the com the people were able to get a glimpse to the action of the war. These sketches were crucial in the performance of war, and to understand the motivation behind the use of this work of art and the impact they create in the society it is important to divide the discussion into three parts. The first part to be discussed is the background of war art although it is also important to explore its definition. The discussion will also examine the combat art that was produced during World War II by the American artists (Davidson 78). It will also look at the personal experiences of the artists, which made them to present WWII realities through art. Artists such as Reep and Brodie were commissioned artists hence they always travelled overseas to cover war theatres they recorded many of the things they experienced on the way as they travelled. In their recording, they were genuine, spontaneous emotional and gave unbiased perspective on the realities of the war. In exploring the work of art in world war 11, it was discovered that the American artists, made paintings that show acts of war, those who survived the war, the wounded, the dead, religion, the workers, victory and recreation. Henkes, one of the explorers of war in art used more than 100 works of art to explore the various aspects of the war. He does not dwell much on individual experiences of the artists that might have been their source of inspiration but instead he examines the plethora of art during the war and this led to further exploration. War art can be defined as an account of events that take place during the conflict and an expression of literature through the combination of documentary functions and artistic elements. Art can provide a visual representation of war as well as the conflicts to attitude. In understanding of the works of art especially those of Francis Haskells, artwork or images have a great effect on literature through sharing of nonverbal experiences. The wartime art allows the viewers to read about the past and visualize it in the hope of comprehending the emotions that war creates. Brady Mathews’ images provide the viewers with a glimpse of first-hand information into reality of how things happened during the civil wars. The works of Brady Mathew and some of his associates were the first ones to be documented extensively through photography (Cimbala 35) these images served as personal interactions and first emotional realities of war experienced by American public. They made photographs of dead soldiers, the people who died in Virginia and Maryland. Brady and his associates were also able to liberate cameras from the studio and bring them into the battlefields so that they could use in documenting the soldiers who were dying while in the battlefield. These examples on how artists participated in the presentation of the Second World War exemplify the effects that the visual presentation of war can create on the society and in literature. Thus, through this artistic representation of soldiers, battlefields and civilians in a war mood makes people have their own interpretations about war. The war has also been romanticized and this is shocking to those people who look at these images and try to figure out on how the war was. From the research, it is evident that Brady’s pictures on the presentation of the war were not accurate always. He would always manipulate his subjects by repositioning the dead and staging scenes that create powerful messages and this continues to influence people perception and lead to the development of literature. Brady did not make his pictures alone. His assistants are the ones who made most of the picture that are credited to him. For example, it is Alexander Gardner, who photographed the battlefields and the aftermaths of the battles especially the picture that showed dead people but it is Brady who took credit. In contrast Brady’s’ photographs, focused on officers, individual soldiers, ships, groups at camps and battlefields. Thus, when exploring the work of art during the war Brady is credited. Despite that, it should be noted that the wartime art is still important to us and in the study of literature as it brings to us the reality of the Second World War. The way in which the artists presented their photographs in the world war two is important in literature as it can help people studying literature (Cimbala 45). From the paintings, one can identify the themes during the war From Brady’s photographs one can tell that while there was romance. Sadness can also be seen as one of the themes. The artists also used different stylistic devices in presenting their works of art and this is always important in the learning of literature. The way in which artists presented their work in world war 11 has had a universal impact in literature. The resulting images that artists produced tend to conflict when one tries to look at the exact details that one is supposed to get from the images. This is because of lack of stereotypes in the works of art. Every artist produced his work depending on his imaginations and depending on many other things that inspired them because most of them were eyewitnesses. The artwork produced during world war 11 can be categorized as combat art and commercial art. The commercial art produced items that were crafted in order to convey certain information to the people and most of them were just propaganda posters, cartoons, comic books and many others. Whereas combat art, was produced to convey original artwork. Soldiers and artists who were overseas produced the combat art and this work is assumed to be original because they presented sketches and paintings of what they experience without influence from anywhere and this made people who saw their work have an emotional glimpse of what the artists experienced. The artwork produced to show the Second World War, whether it was commissioned or it was written on the eyewitness account, were motivated to sketch and paint just as an emotional response to the traumatic events that they experienced during the war. This made the artwork valid, as the artists managed to show the mood of the war and through that, people are able to have an emotional interpretation of the war. The artists did a lot of work in presenting the events that took place during the war. They captured events even at night especially those that the cameras were not able to capture. Unlike the photographers, the artists were able to provide certain information that was very crucial to the public and this was a tribute to the soldiers, who perished during the war. Artwork is paramount when used to present the war. Although, some artists exaggerate their work and this leads to different interpretations of the images in literature. When using art in literature the artists should ensure that, drawing give information that it was supposed to provide even if the viewers of the image are many. The artist should always produce work of art that is in line with what is interpreted by those viewing the images. Occasionally they produce images that give misleading information. Work cited Cimbala, Stephen J. Military Persuasion in War and Policy: The Power of Soft. Westport, Conn: Praeger, 2002. Internet resource Davidson, Susan. Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation. London: Merrell, 2007. Print Hughes, Robert. American Visions: The Epic History of Art in America. New York: Alfred. New A. Knopf, 1997. Print Read More