James Wynne-Ferguson
Critically discuss the relationship between the WW1 and the emergence of
modernism in art.
The First World War was the first truly total war, impacting every aspect of the societies that
engaged in the conflict. The arts were no exception, with many of the post-war periods'
most influential artists being directly inspired by the war and its aftermath. For this essay's
purposes, we will limit our scope to painting and other visual art mediums such as posters.
The modernism movement, in general, sought to realign the way that art interacted
with the world around it. It would do this by pioneering new styles and techniques, that
sought to depict the world around them in new ways. 1 The First World War would act as a
catalyst for this movement to establish itself in the public mind. The horrors that the war
had revealed to the minds of those caught in its wake and its immediate aftermath would
change the world of art forever.
Arthur Wesley Dow, an art professor during the war’s duration, defined modernism
not by any style but by a feeling of rebellion against the traditional. 2 This is what I believe
modernism on the canvas and beyond is ultimately about. The First World War had
provided a reason to rebel against the societal structures that had opened Pandora’s box.
This was told through the visual medium in modernism. The artists I have chosen to discuss
in this essay represent the myriad ways that rebellion manifested itself: in parody of the
traditional, in repulsion towards to the consequences of war and societies failure to
properly respond to them, and in rebellion against the very form of art itself.
1 Tate, Modernism (2023), <https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/m/modernism> [accessed 7 January 2024] (para. 3 of 4). 2 Arthur Wesley Dow, 'Modernism in Art', The American Magazine of Art , 8.3 (1917), 113-116 (p. 113).
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