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Art History Research Paper: Narratives of War
Select and fully identify four works of art that include images of war.Discuss how each work conveys the narrative and how it describesattitudes towards war.
 Throughout history, works of art have depicted narratives of war. These images describe not only the events of warfare, but also thegeneral attitudes towards war. Prehistoric warfare prior to the 3
rd
millennium B.C. was nearly nonexistent, as evidenced by Paleolithic,Mesolithic, and Neolithic Art. Such works focused on fertility, hunting,and animals. Not until the rise of city-states did art depicting warbecome common. Attitudes towards war have also changedsignificantly in the last five millennia: from the power of kings, to theimportance of armies, to the focus on individuals, and finally, to adominant anti-war view in art. Many of these changes took placebecause of individualist philosophies, sometimes embedded in art.Four images that portray narratives of war are
 Ashurnasirpal II at war 
(875 B.C.),
The Burning of the Sanjō Palace
(13
th
century A.D.),
Deathof General Wolfe
(1770), and
Guernica
(1937).
 Ashurnasirpal II at war 
is an early example of historical narrativein relief. The 39” high Limestone relief is dated to
c.
875 B.C. andshows the Assyrian king leading one of his military campaigns.Ashurnasirpal II was known as both a great general and effectiveadministrator, who often resorted to brutal means to expand theAssyrian empire. He conquered Mesopotamia and what is nowLebanon, violently ended a rebellion in the city of Suru, and forcedenslaved captives to build a new Assyrian capital at Kalhu (Nimrud). This relief was located in his palace in Nimrud, which provided a partialbiography of the king.In the relief, Ashurnasirpal II is standing in his chariot, leadingone of his campaigns to expand his empire. He is drawing a bow at asafe distance, while his officers stab and trample the enemy. The
 
winged god of Assyria, Aššur, hovers above him, wielding another bow. To the Assyrians, Aššur was the highest god and protector of theAssyrian empire. Stylistically, the relief is somewhat primitive, butsuccessfully uses overlapping perspective and spatial separation toconvey the narrative. For example, the king overlaps his officers tohighlight his importance. He is also on the very left side of the block,alluding to the fact that he is the initiator of these events. The artistportrays Ashurnasirpal II as a ruthless and powerful king. The narrativeitself is fairly simple: the enemy is being crushed; and so is theattitude: the king is all-powerful and great. The imagery is very clear,and the relief is one of the most uncomplicated depictions of war.
The Burning of the Sanjō Palace
is part of the scrolls depictingthe
Heiji Monogatari Emaki
(Tale of the Heiji Rebellion). The image in
Gardner’s Art Through the Ages
is only the leftmost part of the scroll,while the crescendo of the work is actually in the middle. The scroll ishorizontal, ink and color on paper, and measures 16 ¼” × 23’. It waswritten during the Kamakura period in Japan and depicts the 1159 A.D.Siege of the Sanjō Palace, a brief armed skirmish in the capital. The scroll is an epic story, and the action unfolds from right toleft. During the Heiji disturbance, a faction (led by the allied Fujiwarano Nobuyori and Minamoto no Yoritomo) staged a coup, surrounded theSanjō Palace at night, captured the sovereign, and set fire to thebuildings. The cart carrying the sovereign is shown multiple times inthe scroll, along with Nobuyori and Yoritomo, who are also duplicated. The attackers’ primary motives were to bring changes in government.Although the 500-man army succeeded in battle and helped Yoritomotemporarily gain power, they were soon defeated and killed by theirrival Kiyomori. The Heiji scroll extends the Chinese landscape scrollstyle to include action; specifically, this style is called
Yamato-e
. Theaction is a very hurried and confusing flow of warriors marchingthrough the scene, crushing the opposition. The leftmost side of the
 
scroll shows the restoration of peace, as the lone archer brings a closeto the turbulent narrative. The approach the artist takes emphasizesthe importance of the actual warriors and the
necessity 
of the combat,as they were simply “restoring order.”
The
 
Death of General Wolfe
is the famous 1770 neoclassicalpainting by Benjamin West, depicting the last moments of James Wolfe.General Wolfe was the British commander in the battle (part of theSeven Years’ war) and although victorious, he was shot to death by theFrench. Wolfe’s death aroused considerable feeling in London, andWest decided to paint his death just eleven years later. James Wolfe isshown as a modern hero who gave his life for British victory. The sceneresembles the theme in
Lamentation over the Dead Christ 
, as Wolfe’sfriends surround him and stare solemnly. The clothing West paintedwas controversial at the time, as he depicted nearly-accurate militaryuniforms, rather than classical attire. The contemporary clothing wasso unusual that King George III refused to purchase the painting, eventhough West was the official painter to the King. Despite this stroke of historical accuracy, West’s realism is blended with a staged Baroquecomposition. West’s painting places importance on the consequencesof war and its human elements, creating a much more personal pictureof war.Picasso’s
Guernica
(1937) not only described the consequencesof war, but was a historic event in itself. Picasso painted hisoverwhelming emotional reaction to the bombing of Gernika, Spainduring the Spanish Civil War. In his own words:“The Spanish struggle is the fight of reaction against the people,against freedom. […]In the panel on which I am working, which Ishall call Guernica, and in all my recent works of art, I clearlyexpress my abhorrence of the military caste which has sunkSpain in an ocean of pain and death.”
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