Introduction

Art can serve as a mirror. It reflects people’s experiences, thoughts, and feelings. It can help us understand our ever-changing world.

World War I and World War II changed the world. They were large-scale wars. There were new weapons. Art helped people before, during, and after times of war. One way people reacted to war was by creating art. Let’s look at some artwork that came out of these dark times. Consider what they tell us about people and war.

Art and the First World War

The First World War transformed the arts. Some art was used to recruit people. Posters and other artwork could convince men and women to join the war effort. Norman Lindsay’s posters are an example of this. His poster Fight or Wait was targeted at Australian men. He wanted to encourage men to fight for Great Britain. It produced an emotional response that made people want to fight.

Many countries sent artists to the battlefields. These artists showed the real horrors of war. The artist George Harding joined American forces in France. He sketched and painted the terrible scenes he witnessed. Traffic to Mont St. Père, for example, shows the destruction of a town.

The First World War inspired poetry as well as art. Much of it mourned the loss of life. Some poets fought on the front lines, and several died in combat. Female poets wrote about the war too. One example is Ada Harrison, whose poem New Year, 1916 is below:

Those that go down into silence. . .

There is no silence in their going down,
Although their grave-turf is not wet with tears,
Although Grief passes by them, and Renown
Has garnered them no glory for the years.

The cloud of war moves on, and men forget
That empires fall. We go our heedless ways
Unknowing still, uncaring still, and yet
The very dust is clamorous with their praise.

After World War I, the world began to reflect on the meaning and causes of the war. Art reflected this struggle. It was a way for people to understand the horrors of war. One particular art movement arose at this time. It was the Dada movement. Dada artists believed that the war was a result of the rise of science. They claimed that science had lessened the importance of humanity and emotion. Dada art was meant to offend and ask hard questions. It ignored the rules of art. This can be seen in Hannah Höch’s Cut with the Kitchen Knife.

The Surrealist movement emerged alongside Dada. It began in Paris at the end of the war. Surrealists felt the First World War had been caused by people wanting to obey and to conform. A conformist is someone who thinks and behaves according to established expectations. Surrealist art was a rebellion against normal. It was completely “unrealistic.” Often, it combined things that didn’t seem to belong together. Surrealists also raised questions about whether the world we think we see is what really exists. A great example is René Magritte’s The Treachery of Images. It is an image of a pipe above the words Ceci n’est pas une pipe. (“This is not a pipe.”) And Magritte was right: it’s not a pipe, just a picture of a pipe. But he may also be suggesting something else: Perhaps what we think we are experiencing in the world is just a representation or illusion of reality.

Art and the Second World War

Not everyone liked the new art movements that arose between the wars. Many political movements, from fascism to communism, tried to impose order on the world. They viewed surreal art as a serious threat. The Nazis are an example of this. Once they came to power in Germany, they tried to wipe out the art styles they didn’t like. A great deal of art was burned.

Of course, the Nazis also produced their own art. One of the most important productions was Triumph of the Will, a film about Adolf Hitler. The film was made by filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl in 1935. It was a piece of propaganda designed to show Adolf Hitler as a man of action. Propaganda is a kind of art used to spread a belief or idea.

The war itself also led to a great deal of art. Some of it was openly racist. In the United States, much anti-Japanese art was produced. This happened after Japan bombed a US Naval base. Other countries used propaganda in the territories they took over or were trying to take over. They hoped art would convince people to help them or to obey them. One example is this Japanese leaflet from 1943. It is meant to convince Indian citizens not to join up to fight Japan.

Post-war art

In the United States, the end of the war in 1945 transformed who could make art. Previously, art had not been a career many people could afford to pursue. But the GI Bill changed that. It paid for veterans to go to university, which allowed many students to receive training in art. This led to many new types of creativity. One was “pop art,” a movement that challenged people’s ideas of who art was for and who could make it. Just the wealthy few, as usual? Or could anyone be an artist now? Andy Warhol’s 32 Campbell’s Soup Cans perfectly expresses the questions pop art tried to raise. It reproduces a common everyday object. Can’t tell if it’s really art? That’s exactly what Warhol hoped you would think about!

Meanwhile, in 1949 the Communist Party came to power in China. The party introduced new ideas about the purpose of art. Chairman Mao Zedong was China’s leader. Mao believed that art was “a powerful weapon”. It could unite and educate people. But all art had to be approved by the Communist Party. The government wanted art that was realistic. It had to be pro-communist and pro-government. The painting below is an example of the kind of art the government favored.