Art & Literature of World War I: The Unvarnished Truth

Introduction

During World War I, nationalistic propaganda glorified war, depicting it as a noble and heroic endeavor. However, for those who experienced the brutal reality of the trenches, the story was very different. Artists, writers, and poets who served or witnessed the conflict often created powerful works that exposed the true horrors of war, offering a stark contrast to the optimistic and often deceptive propaganda.

Today, you will examine some of these significant works of art, literature, and poetry. As you go through each piece, consider not only what you see and read, but also how it makes you feel and how it differs from the idealized images of war you may have encountered.

I. Art: Visualizing the Abyss

1. Paul Nash: We Are Making a New World (1918)

• About the Artist: Paul Nash was a British official war artist during WWI. His work often depicted the desolate and destroyed landscapes of the Western Front, emphasizing the dehumanizing effects of war on nature and humanity.

• Observe: Look closely at the landscape, the sky, the colors, and any symbols. What do you notice about the environment?

2. Otto Dix: Der Krieg (The War) - Skeletons on a Field (Panel 3 of Triptych, 1932)

(Note: This image shows a panel from a triptych created later, but reflects Dix's direct WWI experiences and artistic style.)

• About the Artist: Otto Dix was a German Expressionist painter who served as a machine-gunner on the Western Front. His art is known for its unflinching and often grotesque portrayal of the suffering and devastation caused by war.

• Observe: Pay attention to the figures, their state, the ground, and the overall atmosphere. What emotions does this image evoke?

3. John Singer Sargent: Gassed (1919)

• About the Artist: John Singer Sargent was an American expatriate artist renowned for his portraits. As an official war artist for the British government, he captured scenes from the Western Front, including this powerful depiction of the aftermath of a gas attack.

• Observe: Focus on the soldiers, their posture, expressions (or lack thereof), and the line they form. What is their condition? What is the mood of the scene?

II. Literature: Voices from the Trenches

Excerpt from All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

(Erich Maria Remarque served in the German army during WWI. His novel, published in 1929, tells the story of German soldiers enduring the horrors of the Western Front.)

Reflecting on WWI's Horrors: Art, Literature, and Poetry

Name: ________________________
Date: ________________________

Instructions:

As you review the Art & Literature of WWI Reading, use this worksheet to record your observations, feelings, and analytical thoughts. Pay close attention to how each piece makes you feel and how it contrasts with the WWI propaganda we have previously discussed.

Part 1: Art Analysis

1. Paul Nash: We Are Making a New World (1918)

• What is depicted in the artwork? Describe the landscape and any visible elements.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• What colors dominate the painting? How do these colors contribute to the mood or atmosphere?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• What emotions does this painting evoke in you? Why?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• How does this image challenge or confirm ideas you might have had about war based on propaganda?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

2. Otto Dix: Der Krieg (The War) - Skeletons on a Field (Panel 3 of Triptych, 1932)

• Describe the figures and their condition. What details stand out to you?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• What do the skeletons symbolize in the context of war?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• How does this artwork make you feel? Is it shocking, disturbing, or something else? Explain.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• In what ways does this painting directly contradict the heroic imagery often found in WWI propaganda?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

3. John Singer Sargent: Gassed (1919)

• Describe the scene. What are the soldiers doing, and what is their general appearance?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• What is the mood of this painting? What artistic choices (e.g., composition, light) contribute to this mood?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• What emotions do you feel while looking at this depiction of suffering?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Compare the impact of this painting with a typical WWI recruitment poster. What are the key differences in their messages?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Part 2: Literature Analysis

Excerpt from All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

• Identify specific words or phrases that convey the physical and psychological toll of trench warfare.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• What sensory details (sight, sound, smell, touch) does Remarque use to immerse the reader in the experience?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• How does the author portray the soldiers' feelings about the war and their lives?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• How does this literary excerpt compare to the art you just analyzed? Are there common themes or feelings?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Part 3: Poetry Analysis

1. Wilfred Owen: Dulce Et Decorum Est

• What imagery does Owen use to describe the soldiers and their experience during the gas attack?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• **What is the

Reflecting on WWI's Horrors: Art, Literature, and Poetry - Answer Key

Part 1: Art Analysis

1. Paul Nash: We Are Making a New World (1918)

• What is depicted in the artwork? Describe the landscape and any visible elements.

  • Thought Process: Students should describe a desolate, barren landscape. Key elements include broken, splintered trees (or stumps), a muddy or cratered ground, and a harsh, almost alien sky with a sun or moon that looks detached. The scene is utterly devastated, suggesting a battlefield.
  • Potential Answer: The artwork depicts a destroyed, barren landscape. There are no signs of life, only splintered tree trunks resembling crosses, a churned-up, muddy ground, and a bleak, unsettling sky with a distant, cold sun. It looks like a scarred, post-apocalyptic wasteland.

• What colors dominate the painting? How do these colors contribute to the mood or atmosphere?

  • Thought Process: The colors are muted, earthy, and cold. Students should identify browns, greys, dull greens, and a pale yellow/orange for the sky. These colors are typically associated with death, decay, and despair, contributing to a somber, melancholic, and chilling mood.
  • Potential Answer: Muted browns, greys, and pale yellows dominate the painting. These drab, cold colors create a somber, depressing, and lifeless mood, emphasizing the devastation and loss rather than vibrant life.

• What emotions does this painting evoke in you? Why?

  • Thought Process: Students' emotions might include sadness, despair, desolation, hopelessness, horror, or a sense of emptiness. The 'why' should connect to the visual evidence of destruction and the absence of life.
  • Potential Answer: This painting evokes feelings of profound sadness and desolation. It feels like all hope is gone, and the world has been utterly destroyed, making me feel small and overwhelmed by the scale of devastation.

• How does this image challenge or confirm ideas you might have had about war based on propaganda?

  • Thought Process: Propaganda often showed war as glorious, exciting, and clean. This image directly challenges that by showing utter destruction, ugliness, and no glory. It confirms that war is devastating, but challenges any idea that it is heroic or brings positive change.
  • Potential Answer: This image strongly challenges the idea of war as glorious or heroic, as presented in propaganda. Propaganda showed strong soldiers and national pride, but this painting shows only the destruction of the land itself, with no heroes, only desolation. It confirms that war involves destruction, but highlights the ugliness, not the glory.

2. Otto Dix: Der Krieg (The War) - Skeletons on a Field (Panel 3 of Triptych, 1932)

• Describe the figures and their condition. What details stand out to you?

  • Thought Process: Students should focus on the grotesque and skeletal nature of the figures, their disfigured bodies, and the sense of decay and death. Details like exposed bones, rotting flesh, or distorted faces are important.
  • Potential Answer: The figures are gaunt, skeletal, and appear to be dead or dying soldiers. Their bodies are distorted and decaying, with bones visible. Some are tangled in barbed wire, suggesting immense suffering and a horrific death. The overall image is one of extreme decay and the dehumanizing effect of violence.

• What do the skeletons symbolize in the context of war?

  • Thought Process: Skeletons are universal symbols of death. In this context, they specifically symbolize the mass casualties, the anonymity of death in war, the raw brutality, and the reduction of human life to mere bones.
  • Potential Answer: Skeletons in the context of war symbolize mass death, the fragility of human life, and the ultimate, often anonymous, end for countless soldiers. They represent the bare, brutal reality of war stripped of any glory.

• How does this artwork make you feel? Is it shocking, disturbing, or something else? Explain.

  • Thought Process: Students will likely express feelings of shock, horror, disgust, or profound sadness due to the graphic nature. The explanation should link these feelings to the visual depiction of death and suffering.
  • Potential Answer: This artwork is incredibly disturbing and shocking. The graphic depiction of rotting bodies and skeletons makes me feel horrified and sickened by the extreme violence and suffering that occurred in the war. It's a very visceral and unsettling image.

• In what ways does this painting directly contradict the heroic imagery often found in WWI propaganda?

  • Thought Process: Propaganda showed strong, healthy, and determined soldiers. Dix's painting shows dead, disfigured, and anonymous figures. There is no heroism, only gruesome death. It emphasizes the anti-heroic, destructive nature of war.
  • Potential Answer: This painting directly contradicts heroic propaganda by showing the absolute opposite of strong, noble soldiers. Instead of brave, upright figures, we see disfigured, decaying corpses, emphasizing the brutal and inglorious reality of death in the trenches. It strips away any romanticized view of war.

3. John Singer Sargent: Gassed (1919)

• Describe the scene. What are the soldiers doing, and what is their general appearance?

  • Thought Process: Students should describe a line of blinded soldiers, hands on the shoulder of the man in front, being led to a medical station. Their appearance is one of profound suffering and vulnerability, with bandaged eyes and somber expressions.
  • Potential Answer: The scene shows a long line of soldiers, all blinded by gas, being led by an orderly figure. Their eyes are bandaged, and they walk with a painful, shuffling gait, hands on each other's shoulders. Their uniforms are dirty and their faces are grim, showing immense suffering and fatigue.

• What is the mood of this painting? What artistic choices (e.g., composition, light) contribute to this mood?

  • Thought Process: The mood is somber, tragic, and deeply empathetic. Artistic choices include the repetitive composition of the soldiers, the descending line of their bodies, the low angle of the sun contributing to an atmospheric haze, and the focus on their vulnerability and uniform suffering.
  • Potential Answer: The mood is one of profound tragedy, exhaustion, and quiet suffering. The composition, with the continuous line of stumbling soldiers, emphasizes their collective misery. The dim, hazy light suggests a fading hope and adds to the desolate atmosphere.

• What emotions do you feel while looking at this depiction of suffering?

  • Thought Process: Students might feel pity, sadness, empathy, horror at the chemical warfare, or a sense of helplessness.
  • Potential Answer: I feel immense pity and sadness for these soldiers. It's horrifying to imagine being blinded and helpless after a gas attack. I also feel a deep sense of empathy for their pain and suffering.

• Compare the impact of this painting with a typical WWI recruitment poster. What are the key differences in their messages?

  • Thought Process: Recruitment posters aimed to inspire patriotism, courage, and a sense of duty, often showing strong, healthy men. Sargent's painting shows the devastating consequences, the injury, and the loss of dignity for soldiers. The messages are diametrically opposed: glory vs. suffering.
  • Potential Answer: A recruitment poster would typically show a strong, proud soldier urging others to join up, promising adventure and glory. Sargent's painting, Gassed, has the opposite impact; it shows the severe and lasting harm of war, emphasizing sacrifice and suffering rather than heroism. The key difference is glory vs. grievous harm.

Part 2: Literature Analysis

Excerpt from All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

• Identify specific words or phrases that convey the physical and psychological toll of trench warfare.
  • Thought Process: Students should pick out phrases related to physical discomfort (e.g.,