Artistic expression during the war contributed to this transformation. Before World War I, war art largely depicted heroic military leaders and romanticized battles, done long after the fact, far from the battlefield. The First World War marked a turning point with the appearance of artwork intended to capture the moment in a realistic way, by first-hand participants.
This exhibition examines this form of artistic expression from two complementary perspectives. One is professional artists who were recruited by the U.S. Army, serving in the AEF. They were the first true combat artists. The other is soldiers who created artwork. Their self-expression in the form of stone carvings in underground shelters, hidden away for a century, has been brought to light for the first time through the stunning photographs of photographer, artist, and explorer, Jeff Gusky. Together, these soldier works of art shed light on World War I in a compelling and very human way.
A collaboration between the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum and National Museum of American History.
The First World War was characterized by mass mobilization of people and resources on a scale like none before. Millions of soldiers took to the battlefield, and the industrial output and civilian involvement in support of the war was unprecedented. The event not only remade the world geopolitically, but transformed how societies engage and relate to military conflict.
Artistic expression during the war contributed to this transformation. Before World War I, war art largely depicted heroic military leaders and romanticized battles, done long after the fact, far from the battlefield. The First World War marked a turning point with the appearance of artwork intended to capture the moment in a realistic way, by first-hand participants.
The grinding, mechanized nature of the first global war, involving millions of infantry combatants, has tended to render the soldiers of World War I as faceless masses rather than individual participants. It is easy to forget that the war was fought by individuals, each with their own unique story.
Recently, an avenue to recover a sense of the individuals who fought this war has been brought to light. Hidden away for a century in the underground quarters that was the sanctuary for the World War I trench warrior are a vast number of stone carvings left by soldiers, on all sides, that provide a glimpse into the humanity of the people who fought in this great and world-changing conflict.
War souvenirs are as old as warfare itself. Be they trophies of victory or personal keepsakes of combat experiences, soldiers have always saved material evidence of their wartime service. Some, if they had the skills, turned the materials of war into art.
The tradition of artistically handcrafting war souvenirs goes back to ancient times, but the practice flourished during the First World War.