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After the first few months of the war, a relatively mobile conflict settled into the now infamous trench warfare experience so powerfully identified with World War I. Integrated with the trench system were other underground spaces soldiers inhabited for extended periods. These caves, the result of centuries of stone quarrying, were mini cities beneath the surface.
As the war dragged on month after month, year after year, soldiers faced countless hours of idle time in the underground shelters that were their protection from the battle occurring above. They produced carvings on a variety of subject matter into the soft limestone. Among the most common were recognition of their units and expressions of patriotism.
Portraits were another typical subject matter of the soldiers’ carvings, and were among the most artistically rendered. They ranged from famous figures to self-portraits to caricature.
Even in the midst of the hardship and suffering of war, soldiers have always sought respite from battle through reminiscence of loved ones at home, following sports teams, thoughts of female companionship, humor, and comfort from those caring for their wounds. These efforts to take personal and psychological refuge from war found broad expression in the stone carvings left by soldiers on all sides.
The horror and loss of life in war has always been an impetus for solders to examine and embrace their religious faith. Throughout the underground cities are carvings of explicit religious icons, depictions of soldiers expressing their faiths, and carved out chapels and altars used to conduct formal religious services.
On April 6, 1917, the United States entered World War I, setting America on a course to become an important player on the world stage. It was a turning point in the nation’s history that still reverberates through world events a century later. The Museum’s centerpiece presentation in observance of the 100th anniversary of World War I is Artist Soldiers: Artistic Expression in the First World War, a new exhibition in the Museum’s Flight in the Arts gallery. A collaboration with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, the exhibition features largely never-before-seen artwork, produced by soldiers, that sheds light on World War I in a compelling and very human way.
When the soldiers of Europe marched off to war in the late summer of 1914, most expected an adventure that would last mere weeks or months. By the end, in November 1918, millions had been consumed by four years of grinding, mechanized warfare. Casualties, military and civilian, numbered nearly 38 million—more than 17 million dead and 20 million wounded. The psychological and emotional toll was incalculable. Some of the stone carvings capture the enormity of the catastrophe.
Over a period of several years, photographer Jeff Gusky made numerous excursions into a forgotten world of underground WWI soldiers' living spaces and documented the stone carvings of the soldiers with high-end art photography.
The First World War was a profound turning point in history. The world of 1914 was a very different place from the one that emerged after four years of relentless global war involving millions of combatants and imposing hardship on countless civilians, from those whose towns and villages were on the front lines, to those distant from the battlefield.
The latest film in our Hollywood Goes to War: World War I on the Big Screen film series the story of the American Expeditionary Force’s arrival in France in World War I. Based on the real-life exploits of New York City’s 69th Infantry Regiment, The Fighting 69th features several real-life characters.