General Description
In art, war serves as both a subject and a reflection of humanity’s complex and brutal nature. Through painting, sculpture, literature, and film, artists capture the raw emotions of conflict—fear, courage, loss, and resilience. War-themed art transcends propaganda, serving its purpose as critique, as a memorial, or as healing. It immortalizes moments of tragedy and triumph, urging viewers to confront uncomfortable truths. The chaos of war often inspires innovation in style and expression, as artists work to portray abstract emotions. Ultimately, art transforms war’s destruction into a call for reflection, empathy, and the pursuit of peace, bridging the divide between history and human emotion.
This exhibit exists as a testament to the depictions of war throughout human history whether it be through paintings, photos, or even mosaics. In this exhibit, viewers can explore how cultural depictions of war change throughout time and in some ways, remain the same. Because war is so intertwined with the human condition, artists throughout history have found numerous ways to capture the spirit of war, in all its glory and tragedy. By documenting, memorializing and contextualizing the battlefield, artists have influenced viewers’ ideas and opinions on war.
From the battlefields of ancient Greece to the trenches of The Great War, it is apparent that ideas surrounding war are constantly shifting. This evolution of culture can be seen by the immortalization and glorification of leaders, heroes, and scenery surrounding ancient battlefields. In the past, depictions of war often celebrated the triumph of leaders and empires as seen in the awesome depiction of Alexander the Great in the mosaic “Battle of Issus.” However as you will see throughout this exhibit, these depictions drastically change as you get closer to modern times, with more information of war becoming widely available to the public. Through the advent of new technologies and new ways of documentation such as photography and modern journalism, swaths of people who never set foot on the battlefield were able to, for the first time, experience war for themselves. With this availability of information, artists soon shifted from the one-sided glorification of war to more realistic and grim depictions of the battlefield as seen in the rampant photography of the Vietnam War.
The circular nature of this exhibit illustrates the constant cycle of war that pervades humanity’s history. This exhibit brings these works together to juxtapose interpretations of the themes of war such as love, courage, suffering, and destruction through a variety of mediums and time periods. However, despite these vastly different interpretations, one thing is clear: War never changes and it is here to stay.