Influences of World War 1

The First World War

World War one was seen as the first world war. It is unclear how the war started exactly, there are many theories as to how the rivalries started and how the tensions began to rise. However, the one turning point that truly began the war was the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Siberian national. The war was bloody and gruesome. It left over 10 million military men dead and 20 million wounded. Over all they thought this would be the war to end all wars. However, with the gruesome nature of the war, and the advancements in technological warfare, tensions only heightened and the stage was then set for WW2.

Influences

The two sides to the war included the Allies (Russia, France, and Great Britain) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austrian-Hungry, and the Ottoman Empire). By the end of the war over 26 countries had joined the war including the United States. This war tore nations and families apart. More so, this tore at the mentalities of the individuals. Art had already began to stray from depictions of reality. The abstract style of art was already on the rise, and the war sent it over the edge. People lost faith in reality, as the honest truth of the world became more painful. Art has always been an outlet and I believe that art work being made during this time period captures the chaos and distraught notions of the world.

Marcel Duchamp

Rotary Demisphere (Precision Optics)- Marcel Duchamp

Marcel Duchamp was a French artist. He was well known for his work that incorporated the Dada style into it. He created the multimedia piece titled “Rotary Demisphere (Precision Optics)” in 1925. This piece was created in Paris. This piece is a painted wood piece on velvet with a copper collar and plexiglass dome. This piece shows chaos, randomness, and disorder. It is an obscene combination of objects that ends up being visually alluring. I personally think that the piece is meant to look hypnotizing. That was the first thing that came to my mind was an object to hypnotize someone. I found this interesting especially with all of the horror going on in the world at the time. With the war and mass destruction people don’t know what to think or how to react to situations. This piece shows that mental strain that was being felt by so many during the time period.

Hans Arp

Hans Arp was a French artist who lived from 1886-1966. He created many pieces that went untitled. I found this amazing. This was one of the biggest changes that I noticed in art is that there were more pieces without names. The pieces are so much less specific and I don’t know why this is. It was very interesting that the mass amount of death a cruelty would lead to things such as art losing their individual sentiment. One possible theory, is that people must become less personal about individuals when so many are dying. Because of this “focus on the masses” mentality, it is possible that there was less focus on individual pieces of art and more on the movement of art as a whole.

Untitled- Hans Arp

            The piece I places below is one of Arp’s untitled pieces. It is described in the gallery as “collage with squares arranged according to the laws of chance”. This piece is torn pieces of paper placed upon a larger piece of paper. One thing that was interesting to me was what constituted as art. There are many people in previous eras that argue that this would not count as art work. However, the color and contrast work well and it is in fact artwork. I believe that with the war causing people reevaluate morality, they begin to the question other laws and principals, and the meaning of art falls into that category.

Hans Ritcher

Visionares Selbstportrait (visionary self-portrait)- Hans Ritcher

Hans Ritcher was a German painter. He lived from 1888-1976. I found this work specifically interesting because he was German, and they were part of the Central Powers. This country fought against the United States and did many things that the world viewed and acts of terror. Not only that, they also had a large amount of poverty and distraction within their own country. Ritcher made a painting titled “Visionares Selbstportrait (visionary self-portrait)”, in 1917, which was during the middle of the War. This piece shows a very distraught self-portrait. It encompasses a vast contrast of colors as well as a rather demented view on human perception. Of all the pieces from this era I found this one to be of the most powerful. This artist draws himself in a distraught and demented way. These views about himself I believe are linked to his shame about his country. He is artist from a country that is not shed in best light due to the war. The people of Germany are viewed as responsible for the actions of the military, even if they did not personally partake in anything. This dark side of nationalism could explain this painting and adds a lot of emotion to it. It also gives and interesting perspective to the other side of the war.

Works Cited

Artlex. Dada. 2010. 4 November 2015.

Johnson, Reed. Los Angelos Times. 21 July 2012. Newspaper. 4 November 2015.

Khan Academy. British Art and Literature during WWI. June 2015. Website. 4 November 2015.

National Gallery of Art. Dada. 2015. 4 November 2015.

Rosenberg, Jennifer. About Education: World War 1. 2015. Web Site. 4 November 2015.