Ever since the first ever stages of art (Hieroglyphics) it has been used as a form too captured moments of history so that they can be remembered. In fact, a lot of early history wouldn’t be known without art telling us the story of what happened. A great Example of an art form that is sometimes used to portray moments of history is Early modern art. Although we already had the radio and most people in first world countries could either red or right Early modern art was an important form of art used to portray event of world wars so people could receive a more visual sense of the events that were taking place and what they looked like.
First of all, I would like to convince you that Art (specifically from The early modern and present era of art) is a great resource for preserving history. I will do this by showing you three different works from the Early modern art era that portray the world wars and three different current works of art that portray modern history and then commenting on their influence.
The first image I have chosen is “Flower Of Death” painted by American artist Claggett Wilson in 1919. This work of art was fundamental to the portrayal of the use of mustard gas in world war one. During world war one the invention and use of mustard gas had come to be used in war. However for all the Americans back home they had only heard of the horrific effects of mustard gas. But with this beautiful work of art people were able to see the perspective from a first-hand account of what mustard gas looks like and the effects of it. One of my favorite things about this work of art is its use of the Art element Color, The painting portrays a beautiful pallet of yellow that helps the viewer see what a sky of mustard gas would look like.SARGENT-GASSED-IWM,LONDON
The second image I have chosen is “Trench warfare ” painted by German artist Otto Dix in1932. The painting portrays the damage and aftermath of trench warfare battle during World war one. Although there are lots of images that portrayed trench warfare that came out during or after world war one this particular image was important because it came out while the world was on the brink of world war 2. Although this image didn’t stop the war by any means it did help remind people of our dark history surrounded by world war one. This work of art does an incredible job of portraying the art element Space as when I look at it I can immediately see the depth of the trench and vastness of the open wasteland.
Trench Warfare
The third image from the Early Modern art era that I have chosen is “The Second Battle of Ypres” painted by Canadian painter Major Richard Jack in 1919 is a great example of Historic preservation as it brings to light a historic event in which most people aren’t familiar with. This perfectly sums up the reasoning for historic preservation as this work of art has the ability to intrigue people and look into a historic event that they are unaware of. This painting has a great use of the art element of a focal point as when the viewer looks at the painting they are immediately drawn to the soldier whose head is bandaged and pointing to the incoming enemy troops.
I truly do believe that art is an incredible source for preserving history so that everyone may be aware and I hope that this has taken this point home for you.
