War is (sadly) one of the oldest and most consistent themes in art. It always seems like there is no new way to present war, but here the same artist presented it in three very different ways. Outstanding artist. Thank you so much for the video!
"It always seems like there is no new way to present war..." Bullshit. It may seem that way to you, but that would only be true if you lack knowledge and imagination both. This artist, who lived a hundred years before you is proof...but the truth is, most artists portray war in their individual ways--if not, who's going to pay any attention to them? I'll also point out that the vast majority of art goes nowhere near the subjects of war and death. Think I'm wrong? COUNT the damned things, then. Most artists tend to shy away from such subjects. Love and lust are far more common, but probably the most common is religious art. Why am I bothering to try to educate you? :You're someone who spouts off without thought.
@@TheEudaemonicPlague you… agreed with what he said? He said he didn’t think there could be more ways of war to be portrayed, yet that this video about the artist proved him otherwise. You’re belittling someone for something they didn’t even mean by taking what they said out of context.
In the second painting the further back soldier is actually way bigger than the one that’s closer to us. Now either he didn’t understand perspective (unlikely) or that’s an adult in the back and a child in the foreground which makes it even more unsettling
@@teteeheeted the foreground soldier is roughly 6 heads tall (Im taking foreshortening into account) If they’re both adults then the background soldier must be a professional NBA player (200 cm+)
@@43En if they were attempting to paint a child they would’ve made it much more clearer, size doesn’t tell a full story, grasping at straws does though
I did my highschool thesis on PTSD and the relation with art, as representation, way to cope and cure for the disorder Nothing glorious about war, among many of the most degrading things someone could go through life
Oh yes, Otto Dix. My second favorite artist, after HR Giger. When I was in college (the first time) I was studying art and looking forward to writing papers on early 20th century German expressionism, specifically the immediate postwar period of 1919-1925. If ever a moment in history ever spoke to my misanthrope 's soul, it is this.
Reminds me of Felix Nußbaum. The museum in Osnabrück is such a harrowing experience. A joyful young artist slowly changing until he is painting nothing but skeletons.
As a Brit it was really nice to see this talked about, WWI and its memory has always been a big deal here - every town or village or neighbourhood has memorials to the people who came from there and died in WWI (and WW2). Part of what made it so tragic was that the young boys who were sent to die in the trenches were lied to by recruiters about the reality of war and told they had a duty to fight ''for king and country'''. This changed the way a lot of us thought about how a country should be ran and was the start of us becoming a more liberal country (believe it or not I would say we are more liberal now than then, though we still have a way to go in many ways, obviously)
Whilst you make some good points it must be said that British society was rigidly hierarchical before WW1> The recruits were not all gullible fools. There was the "it'll all be over by Christmas" adventurers eager to escape a mundane job, the patriotic or jingoistic, the social pressure that led to the "Pals" battalions & the women behind the "White feather" movement that even forced some men in reserved occupations to sign-up even after the introduction of conscription.
. There are different uses of the word. Here, I think it is meant as "less conservative" but there are other uses, and either way, I don't think that is the point hw was making.
@@LcoreyfulThat's probably because of how crappy the American education system is, causing you to only view it through your close minded American lense. In this case, more liberal means less authoritarian, with more decent protections for individuals and more freedom all around.
@@LaesisIf anything, Liberal systems have coincided with greater propagation of wars, an increasing requirement for men and women to participate in the affairs and whims of the state (because under liberalism everyone is a member of the state through "enfranchisement") , and a diffusion of blame and responsibility, because ostensibly no one person or group of people holds accountability, for it is the masses that are the sovereign. There's compelling reasons, and data to back them up, that those things are bad, outside of highly specific types of polities (isolationist, liberal America, for example, might be a countervailing GOOD by comparison). I know what you're arguing here, but you can't have your cake and eat it too. Also, randomly attacking the American education system without any context just shows your biases and presumable predjudices when it comes to arguing politics. You call him close-minded, but it sounds like you are highly conceited and provincial in your thinking.
Paths of Glory" was one of Kubric's first movies. It is a stunning anti war statement. I swear this happened. On the night that the US said that the war in Vietnam had ended and the US was starting to withdraw troops NYC's channel PIX changed their scheduled 10:00 PM movie to Paths of Glory"
Reminds me of the Futurist movement in Italy, except that they never really changed their tune. Kept with the pro-military stance until they joined up with Mussolini (for a little while). One of those instances where you can't remove the (interesting and neat looking) art from the proto-fascist movement of Futurism.
@estherlowlands1105 their origins also became the biggest influences for Dadaism. It's an interesting part of history that doesn't get mentioned a lot since futurism really paved the way for 20th-century art and design. Also, one of the few movements where the philosophy came before the art.
@@estherlowlands1105 They did not. For example Marinetti remained a political agitator and politician. They were just really tough people from harsher times. Few people talk the talk and walk the walk, this is another aspect that made the futurist movement so interesting imo.
Interestingly, while the original Italian Futurists were fascists, the Russian Futurists (also called Cubo-Futurists, or avant-gardists) embraced the futurist ideals of speed, technological progress and the New Man while rejecting the fascist Italians' ideas about war. The Russian Futurists would be communists, playing a brief but very interesting role during the October Revolution and the early years of the USSR.
The Great War was transformational is so many ways. I had seen the machine gunners before but not the artists' other paintings featured. Thanks for the video!
I had to look up if title of the third painting was indeed 'A Taube' as I suspected. the 'au' is pronouced as in 'how' and the 'e' is not silent, but I was not exactly here to nitpick about that, just to point out that 'A taube' means 'A dove' which is of course ironic as doves most usually are seen as symbols of peace, and not of destruction. (and yes, it is of course revering to the name of a type of German warplane)
I don't think the symbology is drawn that way. I think "the dove" has been killed rather than stands as a symbol of destruction itself. I think you could paraphrase the statement of the painting as something like "look what you've killed in the name of "peace", Peace and the future itself"
As Judge Holden said: “It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge. War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner. That is the way it was and will be. That way and not some other way. It endures because young men love it and old men love it in them. Those that fought, those that did not.”
Very great video, I always love watching your channel! The first part with the quote about the soldiers becoming machines I find super interesting, in Erich-Maria Remarques book "Im Westen nichts Neues" some very similar descriptions can be found, becoming machine-like but at the same time you very often find animalistic descriptions of machines and humans in the situation. As if they are stripped off their humanity - they function, they are led by their basic survival instincts. And then come the descriptions of dead people, suddenly, they start to become humans again, they find passports and pictures of their family, same in the painting here, suddenly the two soldiers become realistic humans but seemingly only once the battle is over and their life ended. Only then we seem to realize what we lost, that we shouldn't kill each other, that these are individuals that can't be repaired like a machine and will be forever lost because of this gruesome conflict.
I think you nailed it. It really doesn't feel like he's left much interpretive wiggle room. I suppose the other question is how much he as a painter believed in the say, goodness of turning men into machines in the first instance already. Like their personal identities are already stripped by the futurist lines, they have no eyes to speak of. He maintains the relative anonymity in the later works, and a bit of the stiffness, but reintroduces shapes that come from anatomy, clothes that saw lives lived, and colours humans experience in person. But how satirical was he being near the start, and how earnest?
I saw Nevinson’s “After a Push” in person at the Imperial War Museum in London this past summer and thought it so beautiful in its simplicity and horror that I’ve been seeking a print for my home ever since. Thank you for covering this incredible Great War artist.
I had never heard of this painting before and looked it up, curious why someone would want a war-inspired painting in their home. It has a haunting stillness and you can almost hear the silence across the landscape.
I have a lot of Great War art and other “dark” art in my home. I’m a bit of a WWI buff and I guess having a taste for more unsettling works is just a matter of personal preference and being a bit of an odd person :)
@@Caligulette_ Just looked it up and there seem to be at least three versions. Which one are you hunting out? I thought the pencil one must be a study but it seems to be from the same time as the later of the two paintings. Might be all the war movies that have been made since, but you can almost hear the three explosions on the horizon travelling through the fog across the desolation.
@@weatheranddarkness the one I’d like is the one I saw at the IWM, which is the 1917 painting with a little more color - the brown of the water in the crater in the foreground, the slight grayish pink of the sky at the horizon. No, I agree - for a landscape so static and empty, it really does give so much to imagine.
Every video make gives me an opportunity to learn something new about a new artist. And every time I have been printing out one or two paintings which you include and adding them to my collection. I just want to say thank you for filling such a needed spot on CZcams for exploring creativity, history and sensibility through art!
You make me look at art in a way i never looked at it before! You are a master at describing and focussing on an artpiece, for that, i thank you. You got a new subscriber.
With how vivid in detail paths of glory is, you can only imagine it was a scene he saw, and was etched into his memory, and now it is given physical form, rendered onto paper the trauma of war.
Your descriptive wording's a fine flavor I cannot see elsewhere online, and it's like a poetic orchestra, detailing the presented visuals through refined vocabulary.
Love your videos, the theme choice, your commentary with the paintings is perfect. Could you make a video about Jakub Schikaneders dark Prague alleys, perhaps his Murder in the House someday?
Cool fact:Walter Sickert (The painter who commented on the painting in this video) was actually suspected to be Jack The Ripper. Far better candidates for the ripper, though still pretty coool. A big part of it was his paintings of scenes were described to be so intimate that only the real killer could've painted them.
His art may be tragic and harsh but I really like it. It’s genuine. The cold dark colors, the heaviness of the subjects and their surrounding elements in the paintings, the deep sadness. I hate war, but I’ve always had an admiration for the men (and women) who were brave and only wanted to protect their people and nations. I understand war, only as a last resort. It’s ugly and I don’t condone it, but sometimes you don’t have a choice. That is the raw reality of life.
War never stops changing. Technology changes and so the tactics must change. Enemies adapt to each other’s strategies in order to counter them. Is there something about this quote that I’m not getting or is it really just some dumb sentiment?
@@3pg4kd It's the circumstances around war that change, how it's fought, where, when and why, war itself never changes, it's conflict, trying to gain what someone else has or preventing what you have from being taken.
16 years old, when I went to the war. To fight for a land fit for heroes. God on my side, and a gun in my hand, Chasing my days down to zero. And I marched, and I fought, and I bled , and I died. And I never did get any older. But I knew at the time, that a year in the line, was a long enough life for a soldier. We all volunteered, and we wrote down our names, and we added two years to our ages. Eager for life, and ahead of the game, ready for history’s pages. And we brawled and we fought, and we whored till we stood, 10,000 shoulder to shoulder. A thirst for the hun, we were food for the gun, and that’s what you are when you’re soldiers. I heard my friend cry, and he sank to his knees, coughing blood as he screamed for his mother. And I fell by his side, and that’s how we died, clinging like kids to each other. And I lay in the mud, and the guts and the blood, and I wept as his body grew colder. And I called for my mother, but she never came, though it wasn’t my fault and I wasn’t to blame. The day not half over, and 10,000 slain. Now there’s nobody remembered our names. And that’s how it is for a soldier. 1916 Mötorhead
This was super deep understanding into the mindset of a soldier. I was surprised to see Motörhead at the bottom of the comment. I didn’t think Lemy was that deep.
If you are in the Washington D.C. area, check out the U.S. Army museum at Ft. Belvoir. They have an art exhibit on the 2nd floor with art peices similar to this video, painted by service members during the various wars.
To anyone who hasn't yet, watch the original All Quiet On The Western Front. It's a difficult movie to sit through, but it was one of the first movies to depict the reality of the first World War. It's told from the German perspective, which is something you almost never see, as Germany were "the bad guys". (In reality I would blame Serbian nationalists who assasinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand for actually starting thr war, and all the alliances made before the assasination for the escalation) The book the movie was based on was written by a man who served in the German army during World War I, and his perspective on what the war was like is really interesting to see. From what I know, the 1930 movie is very faithful to the book
I loved the video! Anti-war art is one of my favorite genres, it's just so powerful, so ugly and muddy, bloodstained, disgusting, sad. One major critique I have, though, is citation of sources in your videos. I love watching them and have been subscribed for a long time. As an art history student though, it's a bit distressing hearing you talk about stuff without knowing where you got your information. Not that I don't trust you and I understand you're doing youtube videos, not scientific essays. I still think it would be nice knowing where does your knowledge comes from, if it's not solely interpretation, and if it is I believe it should be stated so somewhere in the video. To avoid confusing it for concrete, set in stone truths that could come from an interview with the artist for example. You're a huge voice in the popular art history scene, and I think that's great as you're breathing new life into such a struggling field. I feel though as that bears some sort of a responsibility to cite sources, or at least that it would set a good example to cite them. Not only for aspiring art historians but also for people interested in researching a topic for themselves.
I realized with the first few quotes regarding men and machine becoming one and made in their own image, swords and other methods of fighting are actually healthier or yield more skill/dexterity. Whereas guns and machines make you rigid with extensive use.
As an artist living in a country at war, I can say that I understand him like no one else. At the beginning of the war you have the enthusiasm to act, but when it drags on for years you begin to see all the ugliness of war. Every day more and more, and nothing motivates you anymore
I don't understand why everyone is shocked. The very first cave art was of the hunt. We hunted the lands until we depleted the stocks. Then we had to fight our brother for what was left. Nothing is different now.
In thousands of years we have learned nothing. War will seemingly never end. Forever sending the young to die, for ‘glory’ or another meaningless reason.
That’s similar in nature to the Canadian war memorial at vimy ridge. When it was unveiled it was noted that there aren’t any canons or statues of the “glory” of war. It’s meant to stand as a symbol of peace and a way for Canadians to mourn her lost youth.
@@arnowisp6244 Jeez really have to make it a race thing? You are aware that indigenous people also volunteered and made excellent trench night raiders and scouts? Or for another great example of the contribution of native Americans and indigenous peoples is the Code Talkers that served for the Americans…
@arnowisp6244 obviously not the "Indigenous" who committed terrible massacres which have been hidden away by racist historians, then claimed their self inflicted war loss was a "genocide"
I think you should consider covering William Utermohlen and his self portraits while suffering from Alzheimer’s. It’s an incredibly scary series of self portraits that eventually become scribbles as he literally forgets how to draw. Dementia and Alzheimer’s has to be one of the worst ways to die…
I think the dead soldiers are made to look like they blend into the rest of the painting, I think maybe this is to symbolize that they have returned to earth
Most artists interpret what they think war is, but problem is that interpretation inevitably involves choices like motif and stylization. So interpretation is an act of making choices about degrees of artificiality. But such choices can be made either by an artist or a state. So is the 'Machinegun' reality so different from political art produced under Stalinism or Mussolini? No, or at least not without a prologue. So in 'Paths of Glory' when Nevinson wanted to portray the dead bodies of people he cared about he chose realism. War means death, and interpretation of that can be dishonest or ignorant, even if innocently so. An artist once told me that Picasso's Guernica was the greatest war painting of all time. I honestly thought that was an opinion that could only have been formulated from a very safe distance. I was equally unimpressed by an artist who made stylized models of the crematoriums of Auschwitz, and asked $20,000 each for his 'interpretations'. Steep. But he was out of his depth when he was introduced to Ukrainians and Bosnians who attended his exhibition. Interpretative art met reality, and chose to ignore it. I thought that was very interesting. The strength of 'Paths of Glory' is that there is really no interpretation, only the sad truth.
I write comments rarely but this time... This video and these paintings show why People in Europe and the New World forgot the real horror of War. These paintings are good, but nothing more. Just dead bodies. These paintings don't show emotions, fear, tragegy. Only bodies without any details or complete story.
I'm a veteran who pursued architecture after my service. I always loved art but overtime I've became more cynical and disillusioned with the world. I used to love drawing in abstraction but as the years passed, I found myself only capable of drawing technically. No more room for exploration but only tried and true mechanical methods. My experiences weren't as horrific as seen during the World Wars, for which I am glad for. But now my fear is another World War, with people picking hard sides while damning others.Russian vs Ukraine. Isreal vs Palestine. There are much more to the stories of all sides than what is shown through propaganda. Soldiers become machines because people view them as such. Their own people wants them to show no remorse when killing their enemies. Enemies are seen as machines. These enemies in turn view their opponent with the same growning sentiments. The generations of today forgot the past and made themselves doomed to repeat it. There are no winners in war, only losers.
Humanity is simply incapable of remembering things once a few generations past. 100 years is enough to start a Clean slate. And maybe even less when you consider the Vietnam War and other Conflicts that are only half a Century old.
Hey, I’m trying to find a WW1 painting I saw a long time ago but haven’t been able to see again. I saw it on a tv program about WW1 art like 10 years ago. I believe it was painted by an artist in the Austro-Hungarian empire, perhaps a soldier/veteran. It depicted soldiers trudging through a landscape, hunched over as if heavily burdened by their equipment. The style of the painting The commentary in the documentary mentioned something about the soldiers’ hunched pose was reminiscent of art depicting farmers/laborers/peasants carrying or laboring over a heavy bundle of sticks on their back. I recall them mentioning something about the burdens of peasants in the Austro-Hungarian empire and I seem to recall them mentioning serfdom in the empire but I’m not sure in what way that is related. The style of the painting is similar to Mitrailleuse, with the people being impersonal and machine-like, stuck in identical hunched poses.
War is (sadly) one of the oldest and most consistent themes in art. It always seems like there is no new way to present war, but here the same artist presented it in three very different ways. Outstanding artist. Thank you so much for the video!
Amazing thought! Absolutely love it
"It always seems like there is no new way to present war..." Bullshit. It may seem that way to you, but that would only be true if you lack knowledge and imagination both. This artist, who lived a hundred years before you is proof...but the truth is, most artists portray war in their individual ways--if not, who's going to pay any attention to them? I'll also point out that the vast majority of art goes nowhere near the subjects of war and death. Think I'm wrong? COUNT the damned things, then. Most artists tend to shy away from such subjects. Love and lust are far more common, but probably the most common is religious art. Why am I bothering to try to educate you? :You're someone who spouts off without thought.
@@TheEudaemonicPlagueDude, you are unreasonably angry about OP’s comment.
@@TheEudaemonicPlague you… agreed with what he said?
He said he didn’t think there could be more ways of war to be portrayed, yet that this video about the artist proved him otherwise.
You’re belittling someone for something they didn’t even mean by taking what they said out of context.
War never changes
In the second painting the further back soldier is actually way bigger than the one that’s closer to us. Now either he didn’t understand perspective (unlikely) or that’s an adult in the back and a child in the foreground which makes it even more unsettling
I geniuenly would have overlooked that if you didn't point it out. Thank you for making this even more profound.
No they both look like adults, the other one is probably just a bigger guy, combined with an artistic choice.
@@teteeheeted the foreground soldier is roughly 6 heads tall (Im taking foreshortening into account) If they’re both adults then the background soldier must be a professional NBA player (200 cm+)
My guess was small guy and big guy
@@43En if they were attempting to paint a child they would’ve made it much more clearer, size doesn’t tell a full story, grasping at straws does though
An ironic detail about "Taube" is that, whilst there was a light bomber called the Taube, taube means "dove" in German. The bird of peace.
Only white doves standing for peace or am I wrong?
@@sehu1291Exactly. That Guy just pulled out some BS out of his Ass to sound thoughtful.
Doves are flying Rats, only the white ones stand for Peace.
@@sehu1291 That is correct
@@sehu1291 Yeah, which is why we call them Friedenstaube, "peacedove"
@@hah-vj7hc yeah so it would be only ironic if they called the bomber "Friedenstaube" instead of "Taube"
For more on this theme I can also recommend Otto Dix' "Der Krieg" and his other works during and after the great war.
ICON: Otto Dix - "Maschinengewehrzug rückt vor (Somme, November 1916)"
czcams.com/video/Vt4KCqslHpU/video.html
@@nielstenbrink That specific one was the subject of my final exam in art at school...
I did my highschool thesis on PTSD and the relation with art, as representation, way to cope and cure for the disorder
Nothing glorious about war, among many of the most degrading things someone could go through life
'Slat players', 'metropolis', 'nighttime encounter with a madman and 'crater field near dontrien' are my favorite pieces by him.
Oh yes, Otto Dix. My second favorite artist, after HR Giger. When I was in college (the first time) I was studying art and looking forward to writing papers on early 20th century German expressionism, specifically the immediate postwar period of 1919-1925. If ever a moment in history ever spoke to my misanthrope 's soul, it is this.
Reminds me of Felix Nußbaum. The museum in Osnabrück is such a harrowing experience. A joyful young artist slowly changing until he is painting nothing but skeletons.
As a Brit it was really nice to see this talked about, WWI and its memory has always been a big deal here - every town or village or neighbourhood has memorials to the people who came from there and died in WWI (and WW2). Part of what made it so tragic was that the young boys who were sent to die in the trenches were lied to by recruiters about the reality of war and told they had a duty to fight ''for king and country'''. This changed the way a lot of us thought about how a country should be ran and was the start of us becoming a more liberal country (believe it or not I would say we are more liberal now than then, though we still have a way to go in many ways, obviously)
Whilst you make some good points it must be said that British society was rigidly hierarchical before WW1> The recruits were not all gullible fools. There was the "it'll all be over by Christmas" adventurers eager to escape a mundane job, the patriotic or jingoistic, the social pressure that led to the "Pals" battalions & the women behind the "White feather" movement that even forced some men in reserved occupations to sign-up even after the introduction of conscription.
I never thought of liberals as being more peaceful or less prone to war.
. There are different uses of the word. Here, I think it is meant as "less conservative" but there are other uses, and either way, I don't think that is the point hw was making.
@@LcoreyfulThat's probably because of how crappy the American education system is, causing you to only view it through your close minded American lense.
In this case, more liberal means less authoritarian, with more decent protections for individuals and more freedom all around.
@@LaesisIf anything, Liberal systems have coincided with greater propagation of wars, an increasing requirement for men and women to participate in the affairs and whims of the state (because under liberalism everyone is a member of the state through "enfranchisement") , and a diffusion of blame and responsibility, because ostensibly no one person or group of people holds accountability, for it is the masses that are the sovereign. There's compelling reasons, and data to back them up, that those things are bad, outside of highly specific types of polities (isolationist, liberal America, for example, might be a countervailing GOOD by comparison).
I know what you're arguing here, but you can't have your cake and eat it too. Also, randomly attacking the American education system without any context just shows your biases and presumable predjudices when it comes to arguing politics. You call him close-minded, but it sounds like you are highly conceited and provincial in your thinking.
Paths of Glory" was one of Kubric's first movies. It is a stunning anti war statement. I swear this happened. On the night that the US said that the war in Vietnam had ended and the US was starting to withdraw troops NYC's channel PIX changed their scheduled 10:00 PM movie to Paths of Glory"
Reminds me of the Futurist movement in Italy, except that they never really changed their tune. Kept with the pro-military stance until they joined up with Mussolini (for a little while). One of those instances where you can't remove the (interesting and neat looking) art from the proto-fascist movement of Futurism.
I think the ones who actually went to war mostly either died (which is tragic in itself) or simply stopped being futurists
@estherlowlands1105 their origins also became the biggest influences for Dadaism. It's an interesting part of history that doesn't get mentioned a lot since futurism really paved the way for 20th-century art and design.
Also, one of the few movements where the philosophy came before the art.
@@estherlowlands1105 They did not. For example Marinetti remained a political agitator and politician. They were just really tough people from harsher times.
Few people talk the talk and walk the walk, this is another aspect that made the futurist movement so interesting imo.
Interestingly, while the original Italian Futurists were fascists, the Russian Futurists (also called Cubo-Futurists, or avant-gardists) embraced the futurist ideals of speed, technological progress and the New Man while rejecting the fascist Italians' ideas about war.
The Russian Futurists would be communists, playing a brief but very interesting role during the October Revolution and the early years of the USSR.
Ethiopians don't like the art
I was just talking to a family member about you and Art Deco. You can really make a man cry, you’re a gift to us all. Thanks for everything you do.
"war never changes" is a Fallout Quote
War, war never changes
@@werge1 slaw, slaw in never changes
@@casbienbarr birdhyehejwuwuwjwudufvnjfur
Also Ulysses S Grant, but yeah
this specific quote comes from the lonesome road dlc from new Vegas "War, war never changes, men do through the paths they walk"
The Great War was transformational is so many ways. I had seen the machine gunners before but not the artists' other paintings featured.
Thanks for the video!
I had to look up if title of the third painting was indeed 'A Taube' as I suspected. the 'au' is pronouced as in 'how' and the 'e' is not silent, but I was not exactly here to nitpick about that, just to point out that 'A taube' means 'A dove' which is of course ironic as doves most usually are seen as symbols of peace, and not of destruction.
(and yes, it is of course revering to the name of a type of German warplane)
any significance to the boys left hand being his right?
I don't think the symbology is drawn that way. I think "the dove" has been killed rather than stands as a symbol of destruction itself. I think you could paraphrase the statement of the painting as something like "look what you've killed in the name of "peace", Peace and the future itself"
_"Si vis pacem, para bellum."_
As Judge Holden said: “It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge. War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner. That is the way it was and will be. That way and not some other way. It endures because young men love it and old men love it in them. Those that fought, those that did not.”
War is god.
Very great video, I always love watching your channel!
The first part with the quote about the soldiers becoming machines I find super interesting, in Erich-Maria Remarques book "Im Westen nichts Neues" some very similar descriptions can be found, becoming machine-like but at the same time you very often find animalistic descriptions of machines and humans in the situation. As if they are stripped off their humanity - they function, they are led by their basic survival instincts.
And then come the descriptions of dead people, suddenly, they start to become humans again, they find passports and pictures of their family, same in the painting here, suddenly the two soldiers become realistic humans but seemingly only once the battle is over and their life ended. Only then we seem to realize what we lost, that we shouldn't kill each other, that these are individuals that can't be repaired like a machine and will be forever lost because of this gruesome conflict.
I think you nailed it. It really doesn't feel like he's left much interpretive wiggle room. I suppose the other question is how much he as a painter believed in the say, goodness of turning men into machines in the first instance already. Like their personal identities are already stripped by the futurist lines, they have no eyes to speak of. He maintains the relative anonymity in the later works, and a bit of the stiffness, but reintroduces shapes that come from anatomy, clothes that saw lives lived, and colours humans experience in person. But how satirical was he being near the start, and how earnest?
I saw Nevinson’s “After a Push” in person at the Imperial War Museum in London this past summer and thought it so beautiful in its simplicity and horror that I’ve been seeking a print for my home ever since. Thank you for covering this incredible Great War artist.
I had never heard of this painting before and looked it up, curious why someone would want a war-inspired painting in their home. It has a haunting stillness and you can almost hear the silence across the landscape.
I have a lot of Great War art and other “dark” art in my home. I’m a bit of a WWI buff and I guess having a taste for more unsettling works is just a matter of personal preference and being a bit of an odd person :)
@@Caligulette_ Just looked it up and there seem to be at least three versions. Which one are you hunting out? I thought the pencil one must be a study but it seems to be from the same time as the later of the two paintings.
Might be all the war movies that have been made since, but you can almost hear the three explosions on the horizon travelling through the fog across the desolation.
@@weatheranddarkness the one I’d like is the one I saw at the IWM, which is the 1917 painting with a little more color - the brown of the water in the crater in the foreground, the slight grayish pink of the sky at the horizon.
No, I agree - for a landscape so static and empty, it really does give so much to imagine.
Love your videos!! Keep up the amazing work
Thank you!!
Stunning story. Thanks
Every video make gives me an opportunity to learn something new about a new artist. And every time I have been printing out one or two paintings which you include and adding them to my collection. I just want to say thank you for filling such a needed spot on CZcams for exploring creativity, history and sensibility through art!
Stunning presentation. Thank you.
You make me look at art in a way i never looked at it before! You are a master at describing and focussing on an artpiece, for that, i thank you. You got a new subscriber.
This was a really enjoyable change of pace for war related content here on YT. Thanks! Subbed.
u keep cooking up so many great videos
This was a beautiful video. Thank you for making it
One of the best , very well put video , really enjoyed till the very end ! Amazing work!
bro got me of guard at the end
Love you mr. Canvas ❤ Great content
Brilliant...well done. Every one of your videos drives back to the studio to ask myself "What am I trying to say?" 🙏🙏🙏
With how vivid in detail paths of glory is, you can only imagine it was a scene he saw, and was etched into his memory, and now it is given physical form, rendered onto paper the trauma of war.
Your descriptive wording's a fine flavor I cannot see elsewhere online, and it's like a poetic orchestra, detailing the presented visuals through refined vocabulary.
Gay
@@chef_steff I love men.
Instant subscription. This is so interesting if you love history and art
Frederick Varley 'For What?" Is another excellent depiction of WW1 from an under appreciated painter
Great video man!
Fantastic as always. Would love your take on the British Vorticists if that's of interest to you
his work has a terrible beauty
Excellent video!
Love your videos, the theme choice, your commentary with the paintings is perfect. Could you make a video about Jakub Schikaneders dark Prague alleys, perhaps his Murder in the House someday?
Oh shit he's doing the youtube video-essayist voice.
this was very well done
This fills me with sadness.
Thank you ❤
Song is: Traces of Absence DEX 1200
You're the hero around these parts
Cool fact:Walter Sickert (The painter who commented on the painting in this video) was actually suspected to be Jack The Ripper. Far better candidates for the ripper, though still pretty coool. A big part of it was his paintings of scenes were described to be so intimate that only the real killer could've painted them.
His art may be tragic and harsh but I really like it. It’s genuine. The cold dark colors, the heaviness of the subjects and their surrounding elements in the paintings, the deep sadness. I hate war, but I’ve always had an admiration for the men (and women) who were brave and only wanted to protect their people and nations. I understand war, only as a last resort. It’s ugly and I don’t condone it, but sometimes you don’t have a choice. That is the raw reality of life.
A wonderful video to match a horrible time.
Excellent piece. (Please check into the verbs lie and lay.)
war never changes
But men do. Through the paths they walk, And this path has come to an end.
War never stops changing. Technology changes and so the tactics must change. Enemies adapt to each other’s strategies in order to counter them.
Is there something about this quote that I’m not getting or is it really just some dumb sentiment?
@casaleiasallet1176 You're wrong. The hearts of men never change.
@@3pg4kd It's the circumstances around war that change, how it's fought, where, when and why, war itself never changes, it's conflict, trying to gain what someone else has or preventing what you have from being taken.
@@utahnl But that's just the definition of war
16 years old, when I went to the war.
To fight for a land fit for heroes.
God on my side, and a gun in my hand,
Chasing my days down to zero.
And I marched, and I fought, and I bled , and I died.
And I never did get any older.
But I knew at the time, that a year in the line, was a long enough life for a soldier.
We all volunteered, and we wrote down our names, and we added two years to our ages.
Eager for life, and ahead of the game, ready for history’s pages.
And we brawled and we fought, and we whored till we stood,
10,000 shoulder to shoulder.
A thirst for the hun, we were food for the gun, and that’s what you are when you’re soldiers.
I heard my friend cry, and he sank to his knees, coughing blood as he screamed for his mother.
And I fell by his side, and that’s how we died, clinging like kids to each other.
And I lay in the mud, and the guts and the blood, and I wept as his body grew colder.
And I called for my mother, but she never came, though it wasn’t my fault and I wasn’t to blame.
The day not half over, and 10,000 slain.
Now there’s nobody remembered our names.
And that’s how it is for a soldier.
1916
Mötorhead
This was super deep understanding into the mindset of a soldier.
I was surprised to see Motörhead at the bottom of the comment.
I didn’t think Lemy was that deep.
eu quase sempre derramo uma lágrima assistindo seus vídeos...
all three are uniquely sad
Very interesting video!
Amazing video
One of the most moving videos I've ever seen on CZcams. Nicely done.
Brilliant ❤
If you are in the Washington D.C. area, check out the U.S. Army museum at Ft. Belvoir. They have an art exhibit on the 2nd floor with art peices similar to this video, painted by service members during the various wars.
I saddens me to think about the pain we bring on ourselves
Nice vid. I had never heard of this guy.
I expected Otto DIx, but this was delightfully different . Thank you :3
War is worst thing that happened to humanity, to life, to earth.
The third painting moved me to tears...
To anyone who hasn't yet, watch the original All Quiet On The Western Front. It's a difficult movie to sit through, but it was one of the first movies to depict the reality of the first World War. It's told from the German perspective, which is something you almost never see, as Germany were "the bad guys". (In reality I would blame Serbian nationalists who assasinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand for actually starting thr war, and all the alliances made before the assasination for the escalation) The book the movie was based on was written by a man who served in the German army during World War I, and his perspective on what the war was like is really interesting to see. From what I know, the 1930 movie is very faithful to the book
I would blame the imperialists who never stopped to think about the people who'd suffer in this war, not the nationalists.
@@akdele5 ehh, you're kinda right. World War 1 is such a complex subject that it's hard to point at anything as the thing that caused it
@@skyraider87 imperialism surely was a large reason for the war
@@akdele5and nationalism.
@@Idonothing-jj7qe imperialist nationalism
I loved the video! Anti-war art is one of my favorite genres, it's just so powerful, so ugly and muddy, bloodstained, disgusting, sad.
One major critique I have, though, is citation of sources in your videos. I love watching them and have been subscribed for a long time. As an art history student though, it's a bit distressing hearing you talk about stuff without knowing where you got your information. Not that I don't trust you and I understand you're doing youtube videos, not scientific essays. I still think it would be nice knowing where does your knowledge comes from, if it's not solely interpretation, and if it is I believe it should be stated so somewhere in the video. To avoid confusing it for concrete, set in stone truths that could come from an interview with the artist for example.
You're a huge voice in the popular art history scene, and I think that's great as you're breathing new life into such a struggling field. I feel though as that bears some sort of a responsibility to cite sources, or at least that it would set a good example to cite them. Not only for aspiring art historians but also for people interested in researching a topic for themselves.
I realized with the first few quotes regarding men and machine becoming one and made in their own image, swords and other methods of fighting are actually healthier or yield more skill/dexterity. Whereas guns and machines make you rigid with extensive use.
As an artist living in a country at war, I can say that I understand him like no one else. At the beginning of the war you have the enthusiasm to act, but when it drags on for years you begin to see all the ugliness of war. Every day more and more, and nothing motivates you anymore
what country
The war never changes but it does change people.
Music is: Traces of Absence DEX 1200
My favourite of Nevinson's is "A Star Shell".
Good video👍
"NOOOOOO YOU CAN'T DEPICT WAR FOR WHAT IT IS"
-the army
I don't understand why everyone is shocked. The very first cave art was of the hunt. We hunted the lands until we depleted the stocks. Then we had to fight our brother for what was left. Nothing is different now.
In thousands of years we have learned nothing. War will seemingly never end. Forever sending the young to die, for ‘glory’ or another meaningless reason.
amazing
What I find most interesting is that in the 1917 painting the only aspect telling you which tells you on which side the dead fought are the helmets.
That’s similar in nature to the Canadian war memorial at vimy ridge. When it was unveiled it was noted that there aren’t any canons or statues of the “glory” of war. It’s meant to stand as a symbol of peace and a way for Canadians to mourn her lost youth.
Which Youth? The Indigenous that were massacred by White Colonizers or the White boys who shot the Indigenous Boys and each other?
@@arnowisp6244 Jeez really have to make it a race thing? You are aware that indigenous people also volunteered and made excellent trench night raiders and scouts? Or for another great example of the contribution of native Americans and indigenous peoples is the Code Talkers that served for the Americans…
@arnowisp6244 obviously not the "Indigenous" who committed terrible massacres which have been hidden away by racist historians, then claimed their self inflicted war loss was a "genocide"
I think you should consider covering William Utermohlen and his self portraits while suffering from Alzheimer’s. It’s an incredibly scary series of self portraits that eventually become scribbles as he literally forgets how to draw. Dementia and Alzheimer’s has to be one of the worst ways to die…
Question; what is the background music near the end?
I know an artist that got changed by a war pretty drastically
Does anyone know the name of the song that plays in the background?
Reminds me of Marious Rocle. A painter and WW-1 flyer.
Also looks like WPA style paintings from the 30’s.
It's amazing how I actually enjoy art when it's presented with an interesting story, rather than just hundreds of words in a boring textbook
My favorite Austrian painter
What is the name of the music at the start?
I am in tears every time I see Paths of Glory
I dont get notified of your videos, ever. I've had the bell icon set to "all" for at least a year now :/
I think the dead soldiers are made to look like they blend into the rest of the painting, I think maybe this is to symbolize that they have returned to earth
what is the music name ?
Traces of Absence DEX 1200
Most artists interpret what they think war is, but problem is that interpretation inevitably involves choices like motif and stylization. So interpretation is an act of making choices about degrees of artificiality. But such choices can be made either by an artist or a state. So is the 'Machinegun' reality so different from political art produced under Stalinism or Mussolini? No, or at least not without a prologue. So in 'Paths of Glory' when Nevinson wanted to portray the dead bodies of people he cared about he chose realism. War means death, and interpretation of that can be dishonest or ignorant, even if innocently so. An artist once told me that Picasso's Guernica was the greatest war painting of all time. I honestly thought that was an opinion that could only have been formulated from a very safe distance. I was equally unimpressed by an artist who made stylized models of the crematoriums of Auschwitz, and asked $20,000 each for his 'interpretations'. Steep. But he was out of his depth when he was introduced to Ukrainians and Bosnians who attended his exhibition. Interpretative art met reality, and chose to ignore it. I thought that was very interesting. The strength of 'Paths of Glory' is that there is really no interpretation, only the sad truth.
I write comments rarely but this time...
This video and these paintings show why People in Europe and the New World forgot the real horror of War.
These paintings are good, but nothing more. Just dead bodies.
These paintings don't show emotions, fear, tragegy. Only bodies without any details or complete story.
I think that's kinda the point, that's all war brings
@@ShoeLobster45 maybe... i'm not an expert... thank you for answering
Where can I find paintings with the same style as Nevinson’s
I know an artist before and after ww1 strange man from Austria
Good video
Because war war never changes
aint no way this man quoted fallout
he said the fallout line!!!!! FALLOUT!!FALLOUT!!! IDC ABOUT WW1 FALLOUT MENTIONED!!! WAR WAR NEVER JELQING!
I would give a lot to see that “CENSORED” version. A powerful image
What if we made cool machines that don’t kill? Because machines are very cool.
An Artist before and after being rejected
I'm a veteran who pursued architecture after my service. I always loved art but overtime I've became more cynical and disillusioned with the world. I used to love drawing in abstraction but as the years passed, I found myself only capable of drawing technically. No more room for exploration but only tried and true mechanical methods.
My experiences weren't as horrific as seen during the World Wars, for which I am glad for. But now my fear is another World War, with people picking hard sides while damning others.Russian vs Ukraine. Isreal vs Palestine. There are much more to the stories of all sides than what is shown through propaganda. Soldiers become machines because people view them as such. Their own people wants them to show no remorse when killing their enemies. Enemies are seen as machines. These enemies in turn view their opponent with the same growning sentiments. The generations of today forgot the past and made themselves doomed to repeat it. There are no winners in war, only losers.
Humanity is simply incapable of remembering things once a few generations past. 100 years is enough to start a Clean slate. And maybe even less when you consider the Vietnam War and other Conflicts that are only half a Century old.
I really wanna hear you talking about Paul Nash, maybe intertwined with Dave Mckean's book on Nash.
Change the soldiers to have a modern uniform and its Ukraine.
War indeed never change.
Hey, I’m trying to find a WW1 painting I saw a long time ago but haven’t been able to see again. I saw it on a tv program about WW1 art like 10 years ago.
I believe it was painted by an artist in the Austro-Hungarian empire, perhaps a soldier/veteran. It depicted soldiers trudging through a landscape, hunched over as if heavily burdened by their equipment. The style of the painting The commentary in the documentary mentioned something about the soldiers’ hunched pose was reminiscent of art depicting farmers/laborers/peasants carrying or laboring over a heavy bundle of sticks on their back. I recall them mentioning something about the burdens of peasants in the Austro-Hungarian empire and I seem to recall them mentioning serfdom in the empire but I’m not sure in what way that is related. The style of the painting is similar to Mitrailleuse, with the people being impersonal and machine-like, stuck in identical hunched poses.
Albin Egger-Lienz
„Die Namenlosen 1914“
@@martinu5432 Thats the one, thankyou!