The Art of War in America

Case StudyW5A2Kristian WiltThe Art of War in AmericaDuring the history of America there have been many wars that have inspired artists to come out and paint, draw, sculpt etc. in order to portray certain emotions, advertise, and document a particular event during the different wars.

Some of these wars include:

The Revolutionary WarThe Civil WarThe Spanish-American WarWorld War IWorld War IIThe Vietnam WarAndThe Iraq/Afghanistan Wars

Revolutionary War ArtThis particular painting was a collaboration between Ralph Earl and Amos Doolittle in 1775. It is entitled A View of the South Part of Lexington . Ralph Earl was an early American painter and Amos Doolittle was an engraver and silversmith. Together they created this drawn then hand painted engraving portraying the British Army and Militiamen. Ralph Earl used this painting as a way to propagandize this war which he refused to serve and almost went to prison over it. Doolittle, on the other hand, served in the Governors Second Company of Guards under Captain Benedict Arnold. But together they created this intricate piece comprised of wonderful landscaping as well as warm colors, medium contrasts, and a slight sense of movement. This painting shows two particular functions, Client and Patron along with Social and Political, because these two artists were commissioned to do this piece of art but Earl was sharing his views on the war as well.Amos Doolittle after Ralph Earl, A View of the South Part of Lexington, 1775, hand colored engraving on laid paper, 13 x 19 in, The Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford

Thomas Nast was a cartoonist for Harpers Weekly Newspaper during the Civil War. Nast was a supporter of the Union cause and opposed slavery. He showed this by creating caricatures and cartoons for the Harpers Weekly Newspaper. Nast was so good at what he did that Abraham Lincoln called him, Our best recruiting Sergeant. Nast portrayed his many political views through his cartoons, giving this a social and political function. His art was mostly in the form of caricatures giving the subjects abnormally shaped bodies as well as a sense of humor with getting the point out none the less.Civil War ArtThomas Nast, Unheeded Advice, November 1862, Print on paper, front page. From the C.Fiske Harris Collection on the Civil War and Slavery, Providence Public Library

Spanish-American War ArtHoward Chandler Christy, Stand By Your President (The Dawn of Victory), 1933, oil on panel screen, 60 x 40, National Recovery Act PosterHoward Chandler Christy originally got into creating posters and other forms of art for the Spanish-American War when the battleship Maine exploded. He was moved by the event and decided to aid the Rough Riders under Colonel Theodore Roosevelt and later because a friend of Roosevelts. This painting is one of Christys more famous paintings and it shows a beautiful woman holding and surrounded in things that represent America including the cornucopia and the Eagle to which she is perched daintily on its wing. She is dressed in a flowing white gown with red and blue fabric flowing around her symbolizing the red, white and blue of the American Flag. The color are cooler colors but are put in a way that promotes happiness and pride. This painting functions as a political and social symbol to America to trust your leader and things will be ok.

World War I ArtHarry Everett Townsend, On The Gas Alert, Charcoal on paperHarry Everett Townsend studied art in different parts of the world before returning to the United States once the war started. Townsend was an illustrator before he entered the military and began illustrating posters and such before he became a Captain. Townsend drew these posters and such from the human aspect, creating an emotion in each artwork to make you feel the suffering and seemingly lonely and futile times of the war. Townsend showed the rigors of war through his posters with his dark shadings and high contrast work. Looking at this particular piece you can almost feel the exhaustion and fear as the soldiers await the gas attack. The functions of this piece is personal as well as social and political. More personal though as Townsend wanted to make you feel what the soldiers were feeling and not necessarily what the environment was. You can see this by viewing the amount of detail Townsend placed in the soldiers rather than the surrounding landscape.

World War II ArtKarl Koehler, Victor Ancona, Stephen Ancona, This Is The Enemy, 1942, offset lithograph, 34 x 23 This poster created by these three artists was actually a contest winner. They had submitted multiple entries but this one won it for them. This poster was a way to counter the other anti-war messages that were out there at that time. This poster is abstract yet sends a powerful message with the silhouette of a person hanging in the Nazis monocle. This piece was a way to get people to support the war effort and stop the Nazis from killing more and causing more destruction. The function of this poster is social and political because of the reasoning behind having it done.

Vietnam War ArtUnknown Artist, Committee to Help Unsell the War, 1971, offset, 40 1/8 x 29 1/8 in, New YorkUnlike the other artwork included in this presentation, this piece is against the war, the Vietnam War to be exact. During the 60s and 70s people had more freedom to express themselves as they pleased and they most certainly did so. Many advertisements and forms of propaganda were created to protest against the Vietnam War and marches were put together, riots occurred etc. in order to try to stop this war. Even music was influenced by these events. This particular poster was created as an opposite to the Uncle Sam I Want You posters. It was created to symbolize Uncle Sam giving up and the government putting an end to the destruction and killing. If you look closely you see Uncle Sam standing there in a surrendering type of pose holding his hat by his side and holding out his hand with a bandage wrapped tightly to his wound on his head. He is exhausted looking and has a sorrowful look on his face giving emotion to the words below him saying I WANT OUT.

Iraq/Afghanistan War ArtGerald Laing, See What Beauty he Hath Wrought, 2005, inkjet print in colours, 81.8 x 91.4 cmThis piece of Pop art was created as a way to show the wrong doing of President Bush . The name of this creation poses another interesting finding, if you look at it, all of the words are capitalized except for he which refers to the President. This shows an underlying dislike that is not only obvious because of the art. This piece of art shows President Bush sitting in the foreground with destruction and ugliness, represented by dark unappealing colors, in the background. It shows literally the lack of beauty due to certain decisions that were made making the title of this creation ironic. Laing has openly shown his disdain and dislike of the current situation in 2005 with this piece of art.Art comes from and is inspired by many things; it could be as simple as a bird landing on a rose bush to particular events such as war. In this presentation the pieces of art were inspired by the different wars that have occurred in American history including: The Revolutionary War, The Civil War, The Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, The Vietnam War, and The War on Iraq/Afghanistan.

As far as how this pertains to my field of study, knowing this helps a lot because you dont just create a video game without doing research. For example, Assassins Creed, the makers of that particular game had to do some research to make the different elements more realistic to the players. Knowing about war and the art that came from war is excellent to know for war type games and making things more realistic and true to life.Wrap UpReferences

http://www.worcestorart.org/Collection/Early_American/Artists/earl_r/biography/content.html

http://yufind.library.yale.edu/yufind/Author/Home?author=Doolittle,%20Amos%201754-1832

http://www.lib.niu.edu/2001/iht820129.html

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/404083/Thomas-Nast

http://www.americanillustration.org/artists/Christy/Christy.html

http://www.history.army.mil/html/artphoto/pripos/wwi2.html

http://www.history.army.mil/html/artphoto/pripos/wwiprint/townsend.html

http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=0%3AAD%3AE%3A8335&page_number=1&template_id=1&sort_order=1

http://americanart.si.edu/posters/objects/pp-noframe.html?/posters/objets/PP-1995.84.25_.html

http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Exhibits/Track16/i_want_out.html

http://gallery.simsreed.com/artist/Laing/gerald-laing-prints-and-multiples-a-cata/1237

http://www.geraldlaing.com/