War Art Various Artists The pictures produced by war artists show and record many aspects of war and the individual's experience of war, whether allied or enemy, service or civilian, military or political, social or cultural. The role of the artist and their work embrace the causes, course, and consequences of conflict, and has an essentially educational purpose. Artists record military activities in ways that cameras and the written word cannot. Their art collects and distils the experiences of the men and women who endured in it. The artists and their artwork affect how their children view military conflicts. For example, Australian war artists who grew up between the two world wars were influenced by the artwork which depicted the First World War, and they learnt how to make pictures of war in a similar way.
Official war artists have been appointed by governments for information or propaganda purposes and to record events on the battlefield; but there are many other types of war artists. These can include soldiers who are artists and choose to record their experiences, non-soldiers who are witnesses of war, and prisoners of war who may voluntarily record the conditions or be appointed war artists by senior officers. There are 5 examples of war art on this worksheet. Over the next few lessons you will:
Look closely at each picture; Write about each picture (describe and analyse); Copy at least one whole picture and details of other pictures; Combine pictures to form new ones; Invent and create pictures of your own based on one of the pictures you have copied;
All the work you will do will be spread over several periods, so don’t think that you have to do every thing in one lesson