Trench Art: Creativity in an Unexpected Place
The monthly ArtSmart Roundtable brings together some of the best art-focused travel blogs to post on a common theme. This month we are discussing War and Peace. I think you’ll find some really interesting articles on this topic, so take a look at the bottom of the page for them all.
The diverse collection of French World War I trench art at the Musee de Somme 1916 includes painted, cut, shaped, and hammered pieces.
Artists across cultures, time, and place have depicted war, from the vases of ancient Greece to the romanticized paintings of Napoleon’s campaigns. However a common thread is that these images of battle were created by those not involved in fighting, or were done years after the fact for patriotic or sentimental reasons. What we don’t often see is art created by soldiers in the midst of battle and experiencing the brutality of conflict. When they do create, often as a means of distraction, these pieces constitute a tiny genre called Trench Art.
Daydream Tourist 