This painting is by an artist called John Singer who was an American painter who was best known for his portrait paintings. This painting is called ‘Gassed’ it was painted in the early 20th century and was a memorial for the lost lives in the war. In this painting, there are soldiers lined up holding onto each other’s shoulders standing in different postures. With that being said, we can also blind folds on all of the soldiers eyes because of the exposure to the gas. There are more gas effected soldiers that are laying on the floor and in the background. Furthermore, if you very closely you can see a football match being played in the far background which is a cold contrast to what we can clearly see going on up close. The themes and meanings that I get from this artwork are loss and suffering, I believe the artist is trying to get the viewer to realise the reality of war life. So many soldiers become fatally injured and killed due to war and sometimes their lives go unnoticed hence the football match in the background. This work is a powerful statement within itself, it can make the viewer feel a strong sense of empathy for the people in this painting. The artists does a good job of displaying the themes of conflict and remembrance, first by showing the severity of eye injuries caused by the exposure to gas and secondly, just by depicting all of the soldiers in this painting for us to remember them. (Imperial War Museums , 2023)
‘Red Poppies’ was painted by Mawra Taheem who is a Pakistani visual artist. Poppies are of often associated with remembrance because these are the flowers that grew on the battlefield after the world war ended. This painting is abstract and was done in acrylic paints, the background is filled with dark grey and deep colours which gives the picture a sense melancholy. The petals of poppies look fragmented almost like they are breaking off, just like the stems of the poppy. The fragments of petals look like splatters of blood which could represent loss of life, with that being said the flowers do look like they are in their last stages of life due to the drooping of them. Taheem’s work does explore the theme of remembrance and I think we can all relate to this because most of us have worn poppies to remember the lost lives of the soldiers (Textile Artist & Admin, 2015). I like the abstractness of this painting and how it blends in with the background I think it really does portray the mood of sadness and grievance. It is a simple painting but when you know the context behind it has a deep message.
References
Imperial War Museums (2023) Gassed, Imperial War Museums. Available at: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/23722 (Accessed: January 25, 2023).
Comments