Alexjade

     For this week, I chose to look at art created during the World War II era that shows fairly graphic details of the war. From battle scenes to the trauma depicted in pieces to even illustrating real people and their work for soldiers. This was a vivid and horrific time; the imagery of death in these artworks is prevalent in this era. This also correlates to the war, a stain on human history, the bloodbath we call war, and the murders of thousands of innocents. Similar to the first World War, art was used as a window into the painter's mind, an outlook on how these artists witnessed the war through their own eyes. The destruction they saw and the death they illustrated on every canvas with every stroke. Each piece has its own form of horror depicted in its image, some with gore while others are just the knowledge of what is taking place in the work. All uses of light, lack of color or overuse of color, and shading add to the disturbing elements of the message of each painting. 

      In past posts in previous modules, I have given examples of art that are very pleasing to the eye; romantic and classical. It is colorful, radiant, and above all, cheerful. Even in pieces meant to take hold of darker elements, they still had a simplicity that was easy to gaze upon while dissecting its features. However, in this post, we begin to see war's effect on art. How the trauma of witnessing death firsthand can be incorporated into the paper. Gone is the bright and bubbly nature of the previous years, and now all you will see is death and decay. I have presented the elements of death in each piece here and how WWI played a significant role in the art of the early modern era.  Gassed by John Singer Sargent, 1919     In this piece, Gassed , by John Singer Sargent, we are witnessed soldiers returning from battle. As the name suggests, here we see the effects of chemical weapons and their impact on the soldier's bodies. As seen in the painting, most of these soldiers a