The Vietnam War through Art

                                  The Vietnam War through Art

The Vietnam War, commonly called the American War as well as the Second Indochina War, was a war that spanned nearly twenty years, starting from November 1st, 1955, and lasted all the way up to April 30th, 1975.  This war had a great influence on those involved in the war and outside and was able to be reflected through artists that were involved during this period. To help illustrate this for you, here are some examples I chose.:

Martha Rosler is an American artist, born in New York City, New York, in 1943. This first painting is entitled, Cleaning the Drapes. It featured in Martha Rosler's series of photomontages called House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home (c. 1967–72). I thought the contrast of the black and white photo behind the color curtains was interesting. The war had been dubbed the Living Room War because of the televised footage streamed into people's homes. The curtain has been pulled back by what looks to be an image of an American housewife with her vacuum cleaner that was taken from a magazine. While I'm sure it must have been shocking for people to see footage of the war on television, they could also turn off the television set at any time if they had enough for one day. I feel like the curtain also serves as a way of hiding from what was going on, because you can close the curtains and not look anymore.

This second piece by Martha Rosler is called Balloons and was also part of the series of photomontages called House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home (c. 1967–72). It looks like a normal house with balloons and furniture downstairs, but the tranquility is torn apart by the man carrying an injured or deceased child in his arms up the stairs.  The anguish on his face is very upsetting, and most certainly not something you would want to happen in your own home. 

Finally, this third piece by Martha Rosler is called First Lady (Pat Nixon), from the series of photomontages called House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home (c. 1967–72). In what should be a glamor shot of the First Lady in her beautiful home, we see a photograph of somebody dead in the picture frame behind her. Her smile seems tacky and inappropriate in this setting, simply by altering the image that was originally in that frame with a photo from the Vietnam War. To me it also seems like the artist is mocking the First Lady for her opulence, wealth, grandeur and day-to-day tranquility by making her appear totally out of touch with the world, like a modern-day Marie Antoinette, perhaps.

Next up is a piece created by James Pollock, titled Looking Down the Trail, (1967) to give a little background into who James Pollock was he was one of only forty-six U.S. Army soldiers between 1966 and 1970 to be commissioned to create battle art in Vietnam as part of the Vietnam Combat Art Program. When active in the war him along with other artists would go on patrol with the infantry soldiers who would sometimes even come under attack. His art is characterized by stronger lines and bolder colors, ultimately being seen as a mix of abstract and concrete. In this painting it depicts soldiers having to wade through a thick, colorful, jungle swamp highlighted through the use of organic shape, with the water coming up to chest high. This painting does not appeal to me as it invokes a feeling of isolation when putting myself in the lone soldiers' boots, as well as an emotion of disgust. I can't imagine the smell, sights, and feeling Pollock had to endure during this period. 

The next painting I chose from James Pollock is titled Locals. Created in 1967, it shows two local people, one facing towards us and the other, facing away, in a seated position. Through the use of a bolder yellow and green color to depict the land in the foreground and background, paired with the local people, this painting gives me the feeling of the tiredness these locals feel with having their homes and land be used for war. It appeals to me, but I would not have it in my home as upon viewing it I would be hit with a wave of emotions.

As for my last painting, I chose The Innocent. Painted in 1967, this work was created by Kenneth J. Snowcraft, was a part of (CATs) or Combat Artist Teams. It depicts a lady holding her baby who appears to have passed. You can see tears streaming from the lady's eyes at she grieves the loss of her child. When viewing this piece, more specifically when I look at her face, I feel sadness, pain, and grief. This added onto by the use of black color surrounding the lady and child with little space to look elsewhere creates a dark, dreadful tone. This unfortunately, was the case for many people who were caught up in the events of this war. The emotion I feel when looking at this is not appealing to me, and I would not have this hung up in my home.

Rosler, Martha. Retrieved from https://new.artsmia.org/stories/bringing-it-all-back-home-how-martha-rosler-brought-the-vietnam-war-into-the-american-living-room/

Rosler, Martha. Retrieved from House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home (1967-1972) — martha rosler

Rosler, Martha. Retrieved from The Living Room War: A Conversation with Artist Martha Rosler | Getty Iris

Pollock, James, Retrieved from James Pollock - Looking Down the Trail, 1967 - Norman Rockwell Museum - The Home for American Illustration

Snowcraft, Kenneth, Retrieved from 48 years after Vietnam – Minnesota Remembers Vietnam