The Glorification and Horrors of War Through the Arts
Janet King
Professor Miller
ART 1030
17 August 2010
The Glorification and Horrors of War through the Arts Artistes have always painted scenes of war from the Ancient worlds of Egypt and Greece. The relief inside the Abu Simbel Temple showing Ramses in the Battle of Kadesh and of his victory over the Hittites is an excellent example. The Athena Frieze depicting the battle of Greeks against the Persians, which are some of the earliest example of a specific historical event being, sculptured (Greek Art). To the photographs that are coming from the current war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the flagged draped coffins of the dead in the cargo hull on their way home. In the periods of art, before Goya’s the Third of May tended to glorify war and make it seem romantic and heroic without the effects of the bloodshed and horrors that war brings. Benjamin West’s The Death of General Wolfe does show the effect of war, however, he has made a martyr of General Wolfe surrounded by his officers making this painting seems to be Romanizing the death (Class Lecture-The Neoclassical 2 of 3). Benjamin West was an American Neoclassical painter who turned art historical order upside down by not depicting a classical theme and used clothing of the time (Gehmacaher). The Neoclassical period of art was a reaction to the Baroque and Rococo style of art where a renewed interest for classical antiquity of the ancient Greek and Roman seeking the geometric harmony of the time (Kleiner 330). The Neoclassical period of art was during the Enlightenment period where critical thinking of the world and humankind spurred the great political, social and economic changes resulted in Revolutions in France and America (Kleiner 319). Writers such as Rousseau, Voltaire, and Jefferson help the change the critical thinking in political, social and economic toward humankind and what was going on in the world helped inspired the French and American Revolutions (Class Lecture-The Neoclassical 1 of 3). This
Professor Miller
ART 1030
17 August 2010
The Glorification and Horrors of War through the Arts Artistes have always painted scenes of war from the Ancient worlds of Egypt and Greece. The relief inside the Abu Simbel Temple showing Ramses in the Battle of Kadesh and of his victory over the Hittites is an excellent example. The Athena Frieze depicting the battle of Greeks against the Persians, which are some of the earliest example of a specific historical event being, sculptured (Greek Art). To the photographs that are coming from the current war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the flagged draped coffins of the dead in the cargo hull on their way home. In the periods of art, before Goya’s the Third of May tended to glorify war and make it seem romantic and heroic without the effects of the bloodshed and horrors that war brings. Benjamin West’s The Death of General Wolfe does show the effect of war, however, he has made a martyr of General Wolfe surrounded by his officers making this painting seems to be Romanizing the death (Class Lecture-The Neoclassical 2 of 3). Benjamin West was an American Neoclassical painter who turned art historical order upside down by not depicting a classical theme and used clothing of the time (Gehmacaher). The Neoclassical period of art was a reaction to the Baroque and Rococo style of art where a renewed interest for classical antiquity of the ancient Greek and Roman seeking the geometric harmony of the time (Kleiner 330). The Neoclassical period of art was during the Enlightenment period where critical thinking of the world and humankind spurred the great political, social and economic changes resulted in Revolutions in France and America (Kleiner 319). Writers such as Rousseau, Voltaire, and Jefferson help the change the critical thinking in political, social and economic toward humankind and what was going on in the world helped inspired the French and American Revolutions (Class Lecture-The Neoclassical 1 of 3). This
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