WW1 Influence on Early Modern art

Introduction 

Was it the first war in the world? No! But we call it that, because it was the first one during the industrialized period and people had access to certain types of mechanical weapons.
During the WW1 there was a belief, that traditions started the war, which is why there is a quote by Hans Art "Repelled by the slaughter-house of the world war, we turned to art. We searched for an elementary art that would, we thought, save mankind from the furious madness of these times." People started to go out of the traditional way of painting and a new style, influenced both by the WW1 and Avant-garde, was born, called Dada style. We will be looking at 3 works from this iconic era, which will include both Dada and other related style works like - Marcel DuChamp's L.H.O.O.Q, Otto Dix's Card-Playing war cripples and Max Beckmann's The Night. 

Analysis of the works

Marcel Duchamp - L.H.O.O.Q

 

 

 This is an iconic piece by an iconic artist, the L.H.O.O.Q or we could call it the Mona Lisa with a mustache for the sake of easier writing, was created by Marcel Duchamp in 1919. He is believed to have started the Dadaism art movement, thus showing the rejection of the traditions and expressing the reality of the broken world, that they lived in after the first World war. The art piece depicts the popular Leonardo Da Vinci piece - Mona Lisa, but it has been defaced with a drawing of a mustache on it. I would not call this a painting, since the Mona Lisa was not painted by Duchamp, but just the mustache was drawn on a postcard and the title changed, however the statement that this gave to the world was amazing and inspired more than one artist to take on this incredible style of improvising, stepping away from the traditions and stating your thoughts about the, at that time, changed world. The title itself L.H.O.O.Q is chosen as a pun, since in French the words sound like the phrase "She has a hot ass".

Since I should not really analyze Mona Lisa I do not think there are too many art elements that I would take into account, with the mustache being the only original addition to the work. With this work I just like to sit and marvel at its message to the world and I would definitely like to own this art piece. I think it would be great in the living room because of the mockery that it depicts and it would most definitely start many conversations, which is what you want in that particular setting. 

 

Otto Dix - Card-playing war cripples

 This work was created by Otto Dix in 1920 and shows disabled war veterans playing the game of Skat. The work of art was originally named Die Skatspieler, which from German means The Skat Players it was only later renamed to the Kartenspielende Kriegskrüppel, which from German means  Card-playing war cripples. The painting is a part of Otto Dix's four paintings inspired by WW1 - The Street in Prague, The Match Seller, The Skat Players and The Barricade. The painting is believed to have originated in a cafe, that Dix was at - he there saw three mutilated war veterans and made a sketch, which later grew into this amazing piece. 

The artwork itself is certainly abstract with there being no true depth, the only way how we can tell that the middle man is further away is by seeing the table in front of him. The painting shows all of the men mutilated, with one of them having a mechanical jaw, other having no legs, the third with just one arm and a injured face and no eye. It is a rather colorful painting, however the emotions that it arises for me are disgust and sadness, which would not be the case if the same colors would be used, but other things depicted. I find it interesting that even with there not being really true depiction of how the veterans looked in real life, he still took his time to incorporate a reflection from the table in the shiny floor, which shows how detailed the artist was. 

I would not own this piece of art, just because of the emotions it arises and I do not think anyone I know would display it in any of their homes, however I think it is a great art piece to show in a museum, with the information about the circumstances of its origination. 

Max Beckmann - The Night

This art work was painted by the German painter Max Beckmann sometime between 1918 and 1919. It is called The Night, because it shows the night a family is being attacked and raped by intruders in their, what looks like apartment. The work is a part of the New Objectivity movement, which evolved as a reaction to expressionism and aimed to reject its romantic details, by showing the harsh real world of the German life after WW1. In this painting Beckmann paints the man being hung as himself and it was said, that the woman being tied to the pole after being raped is painted by the likeness of his wife and the child being taken away, by the likeness of his son. This painting does not really inspire awe, I would say it more involves feelings such as disgust, anger and sadness, since it is an awfully ugly scene that is shown very well. 

The painting itself has no depth, since the wife is tied up to the pole at the end of the room, but it looks like she is in the front plane. There are many strict lines, which lets us pick up on the expressive details of the work and see everything, however it is a bit of a mess, with so much being cramped up in small room, with no sense of cleanliness. The colors are mainly white and shades of gray, with the occasional red, green and blue being present - they give the painting a depressive vibe, since it feels dark. 

I would not own this painting and do not think any of may family or friends would either, since it is a depiction of an awful scene, but I think it would be great at a museum or presented to people who learn about the post-WW1 art. 

Overview

The art works we looked at all are painted by iconic artist of their respective art movement, with Dadaism being represented by Marcel Duchamp and the New Objective by Max Beckmann and Otto Dix. I personally enjoyed learning about these contradictory works of art, that step away from the traditional and show the frustration and darkness of the people, which was lingering in peoples minds after WW1. It was a dark time, but people found a way to get through it and express themselves with the help of art. Which is why it is such an important part of our society. 

Sources used: 

Wikimedia Foundation. (2021, September 19). The skat players. Wikipedia. Retrieved November 5, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Skat_Players.

Crockett, Dennis (1999). German Post-Expressionism: the Art of the Great Disorder 1918-1924. University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press.

Wikimedia Foundation. (2021, September 4). The night (painting). Wikipedia. Retrieved November 5, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_(painting).

Wikimedia Foundation. (2021, September 1). L.H.O.O.Q. Wikipedia. Retrieved November 5, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.H.O.O.Q.