History 1

Aunika
History
Block 2
May 14, 2015

How was art changed by World War 1?

Art plays a major role in describing what the society and people are going through or the
social stability of the time; changing art means a changing society. Art has a way of expressing
how the people can feel and is constantly evolving into something that everybody can relate to.
The most common art styles before the war were Impressionism, modern art and propaganda
posters to advertise the good in going into war. The art styles became more of what the artist
wanted for what their emotions were but put down onto paper; expressionism. This gave people
the power for their voice to be heard amongst the crowds of people.
Art before World War 1 was all about advertising the war and its benefits. Heroic
depictions of soldiers happily fighting with words like; hero, courage, chivalry were often seen
under the drawings. Art later changed to become more bloody, nightmarish, and choppy.
Drawings of soldiers hunched over and defeated with ruin and decay all around them became a
very popular form of art. Words like; courage, bravery, and honor were seen as obscene and rude
to put into a drawing. The true vision of what the war really held was shown and people wanted
to run from what they couldnt escape.
After the war art changed to styles like cubism, surrealism, and expressionism.
Expressionism was all about expressing how the artist felt. Expressionism was used by Vincent

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Van Gough and it uses exaggerated colors, and distorted lines to really get an emotional impact.
Cubism was the style of stressed lines of geometry and symbols that represents an object from
many different angles, often used by Pablo Picasso. Surrealism used a mashup of collage,
cubism, and dada as a way to express the weird and fascinating part of the human subconscious.
These art styles helped to develop what artists now are using today in art, they gave people more
of a voice and a way to express themselves.
Art can have a powerful influence on the people in the time ere. After World War 1 the
people changed their views on a lot of things, from how the war really was, and it gave artists
everywhere a way to share their idea and their own voice could be heard out in a crowd. Art can
show the people many generations down the line what life really was and how it mustve felt to
be that person, it gives many people a connection that very rarely can be felt. Art after WW1 was
forever changed by the hardships that the people had to endure; they were able to tell their stories
through the art that they made. Art can change the way people see things around them and can
impact the generations to come.

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Sources:
Johnson, Reed. "Art Forever Changed by World War I." Los Angeles Times. Los
Angeles Times, 21 July 2012. Web. 18 May 2015.
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul/21/entertainment/la-et-cm-world-war-art20120722
www.citationmachine.net/mla/cite-a-website/search?utf8=&q=http
%3A%2F%2Fwww.worldguide.eu%2Fwg%2Findex.php%3FStoryID
%3D378%26ArticleID%3D20460&commit=Search+Websites Web. 18 May 2015.
"Exhibition Reveals the Impact of WW1 on Art and Facial Reconstructive
Surgery." Featured News. Web. 18 May 2015.
http://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/featurednews/title_429629_en.html