Unit Thirteen Blog
For this blog I've chosen to talk about Mid-Modern art. A lot of the art from around this era has huge influences from the second world war, as this was the talk of the world at the time. This blog will cover three artists and the art they've made.
Battle of Britain
1941
Paul Nash
The Battle of Britain by Paul Nash kickstarts a theme that permeates throughout most if not all of the art in this blog. I would argue that the pieces are sad in nature, regardless of how cheery or otherwise the pieces appear to be. Battle of Britain is an excellent example of this. This piece has a minimalist artstyle, which is a style that was employed by its author, Paul Nash. I believe that the minimalist artstyle has a natural knack for things looking lonely. There's an inherent lack of detail in the minimalist style that is necessarry for it to even be considered minimalist. This inherent lack of detail makes art feel a little empty, like it's lacking something, and that lacking feel I believe is a reason for why these pieces can feel lonely. What also contributes to the feel of lonliness - and by proxy sadness - is how empty the piece is as a whole. The primary element in this piece is the blue sky. There are a few clouds, and a couple planes on top of their little contrails. I also feel that how far away the videwer is creates a sense of helplessness, like the viewer can't do anything to stop the battle, This compounds with the lonly feeling and leads to the themes of sadness, despite some genuinely bright - if slightly muddy - colors.
1941
Paul Nash
Unlike Battle of Britain, Defence of Albion conveys its themes of sadness primarily through color scheme. The primary colors employed are grey, with a few muddy greens and browns splashed in for a very murky feeling. This next part is extremely subjective, but I have to comment, I absolutely love how most of the painting is just various shades of grey. The plane and the background is all grey, but the use of just differeny greys make the plane stand out without having to employ elements of pop art to easily outline the plane. The minimalist style also comes into play here, making the picture feel even more blurry and murky than it normally would courtesy of the lack of detail.
1940
John Piper
John Piper also employed a minimalist style just like Paul Nash, but their styles of minimalist are different. Whereas Paul Nash employed usually more subtle colors such as browns and greens, John Piper used more vibrant colors, like oranges and reds. This didn't inherently make his paintings more cheery. My case and point is the painting above. The ruined look of the buildings in the painting implies that perhaps there was a bombing. Also the reds are mixed with black which darkens the look and makes it look more ruined. The lack of people again ties into lonliness and the overall theme of sadness.
1943
John Piper
Once again, John Piper employes reds and brighter colors in a very sad way. Again, there is no one around in the painting at all, not even a plane or anything. The clouds in the sky are also murky, and the land is primarily a rusty brown color and some muddy greens. Unlike The St. Mary painting, there is no blue which takes away a lot of the color from the painting and makes it feel depressing.
1944
Edward Ardizzone
Edward Ardizzone is by far the artist with the happies looking pictures, which is a testament to the effects of Worls War II. This piece above looks at least a little cheerful, with there being actual people in the picture. I would argue that this style is a belent of minimalist and pop, as the piece is very heavy on the lines as opposed to both Paul Nash and John Piper who employed none. This piece looks like it wouldn't be too out of place in a comic. However, that doesn't mean it's entirely pop. This piece still leavs a lot of the finer details to the imagination. Most of the men in the background are primarily lines and the ships are just glorified rectangles (hyperbole). The theme of sadness here lies in the men and the various materials around them. Barbed wire is never a fun thing to see, and the man in the bottom left corner does not look like he's having a fun time. Everyone in the image looks like the sun is getting to them. Most of them are all slouched over, and they're wearing hats designed to prevent the sun from getting into their eyes. The mood in this piece cannot be cheery.
Visit to Ensa Girls in the Dressing Room at the Lucera Opera House, 1943
1943
Edward Ardizzone
Visit to Ensa Firls in the Dressing Room at the Lucara Opera House, 1943 on top of having an obscenely long name is a lot more subtle in its sadness than say, Shelter Experiments Near Wofurd, Bedforshire by John Piper. The people are happy to see eachother, and nobody is in any notable danger. So what's the problem? I feel that the answer lies in the colors. The main color employed is this dark grey, tan kinda color that comprises the walls and the general background. It's not a happy color, not by any stretch. That alone wouldn't be much to make this piece feel sad though, but what's interesting is how this color bleeds into the people in frame. The greens of the girls and the old man appear to have assimilated with thebackground, and the cardigan or general long coat of the man in the hat is essentially the same color as thebackground. Heck, even the blue shirt on the box - which is the same color as the background, mind you - has been merged with the background color. Just to state again, it's not a happy color.
These components compound on eachother to create a theme of sadness that permeates throughout these six pictures. Despite the differences in artstyle, be they large or small, each is able to capture a sad feel in its own way. While this is unnecessarry to add, I believe that my favorite piece is probably the bottom one. It's so calm in its atmosphere and extremely subtle with its sadness. While the scene might not be so to me the piece feels quiet, which is an aspect about it that I absolutely love.
Sources:
“The Art of World War II - Google Arts & Culture.” Google, Google, artsandculture.google.com/usergallery/kgLCucQL-JTiLA.
“Art WW2.” HISTORY, khhistory15.weebly.com/art-ww2.html.
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