Context In The Falling Soldier

Context means the varied circumstances in which a work of art is (or was) produced and/or interpreted and also the context of the viewer’s feelings towards that art. Context helps to shape the imagination of the viewer. Whether context is necessary or not it is debatable. Context helps the viewer to understand when, where, why and by whom it was made, art answers all these four questions when its examined and a failure to do so is the failure of the viewer not the artist. With context the viewer can see what the artist wants to show and try to feel what the artist meant to portray through the feeling. Without context the viewer can imagine the artwork on their feelings and they can set their imagination loose. Hence, allowing them to release and see the artist’s works through their emotions, thoughts and feelings they go through.

In the case of the picture by Robert Capa, The Falling Soldier, which shows a man getting shot during the Spanish War a Loyalist soldier. The viewer has an immediate sense that the man is shot, and there is a war; but the picture becomes more tragic when we learn what he was fighting for hence it helps to emphasize the reason behind the painting. But for a person who might be physically injured or mentally injured the painting could be that viewers remembrance of that moment or could
Context doesn’t connote art: context connotes how art is used at a certain time only”. Furthermore, the questions that can be raised by context are how has the social, cultural and personal experiences of that person/time period affected the production of art? Which also brings out the lack of need of context as the viewer can then understand and feel the art through their cultural, personal and social experiences. Hence, context does not only need to be of the artist and painting but also of the