Introduction

What is “art”? There’s no single definition. But one way to look at it is as a mirror we hold up to society. Art reflects people’s experiences, thoughts, and feelings. It can help us understand our ever-changing world.

The two world wars of the twentieth century were enormous, dramatic, terrible periods. One of the ways people reacted to them was through creating art. Let’s look at some of those creations and consider what they tell us about people and war.

Art and the First World War

The First World War transformed the artistic world. Some of the art it produced was used to make people want to join the war effort. A great example is Australian artist Norman Lindsay’s posters, which tried to recruit men to the Australian forces fighting for Great Britain. Posters like Fight or Wait were both realistic and expressive. They aimed to produce an emotional response that made you want to fight.

Many states sent artists to the front lines to draw battlefields. A lot of art that emerged from the front lines detailed the terrible truth of war. It showed the dangers that soldiers faced. The artist George Harding accompanied the American forces in France. Harding sketched and painted the devastating scenes he witnessed. Traffic to Mont St. Père, for example, shows the destruction of a town by artillery and airplanes.

The First World War inspired poetry as well as visual art. Much of this poetry mourned the loss of life, destruction of property, and death of innocence. Some poets fought on the front lines, and several died in combat. Examples include Britain’s Siegfried Sassoon, Russia’s Ilya Ehrenburg, Germany’s Gerrit Engelke, and France’s Louis Pergaud. 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 the war, the world needed to heal from the years of death and destruction. This was especially true for the many millions of war veterans. Art reflected this struggle and was a way of coming to terms with the meaning and causes of the war. One particular school of art, the Dada movement, argued that the war was a result of the rise of science and a new emphasis on reason. These new ways of thinking had lessened the importance of humanity and emotion, these artists said. Dada art was meant to offend and ask hard questions. It ignored the often rigid rules of art, as 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. This type of art expressed ideas, thoughts, and feelings directly, leaving “reality” behind. Surrealists generally felt that the First World War had been caused by people wanting to obey and conform, and its artists and poets stressed non-conformity. They fused together items and elements that others would not have thought belonged together. They 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 that what we think we are experiencing in the world is just a representation or illusion of reality.

Art and the Second World War

The art of the period between the wars was both rich and chaotic. This was also a period of changing beliefs. The world saw a rise in fascism, authoritarianism, and communism. These were new ways to impose order in many countries. These political movements saw surreal art as too uncontrollable. Many leaders viewed this art as a serious threat. Once the Nazi party came to power in Germany, surrealistic and otherwise unapproved art was burned.

Recognizing the power of art, authoritarian governments also produced it. They sponsored art celebrating progress, organization, and obedience. One of the most important productions was Triumph of the Will. It was a film about Adolf Hitler made by German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl in 1935. The film was a two-hour propaganda piece meant to show how the German people should celebrate Adolf Hitler as a man of action.

The war itself also led to an abundance of art. Some of it was overtly racist, like anti-Japanese pieces in the United States. Other countries also created a great deal of propaganda in the territories they took over or were trying to take over. They hoped art would convince populations to help them or to obey their rule. One great 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 and some other countries, 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, which paid for veterans to go to university, allowed many more students than ever before 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, which made art from an everyday product, perfectly expresses the questions pop art tried to raise. Can’t tell if it’s really art? That’s exactly what Warhol hoped you would think about!

Meanwhile, the Communist Party in China brought to power a new government. It also brought new ideas about the purpose of art. Party Chairman Mao Zedong directed that art be “a powerful weapon for uniting and educating the people, fighting and destroying the enemy.” Art that was considered not useful was outlawed. This was especially true for art influenced by European and US movements like Surrealism and pop art. The only art supported by the government was very realistic, pro-communist, and pro-government. The painting below is an example of the kind of work the government favored.