Depiction of War in Visual Arts

This article discusses the works of war artists like Alberto Giacometti and Nora Heysen, who portrayed the emotions of helplessness, loneliness, uncertainty, insecurity and various others which people felt during the time of the war through their art.

Running head: DEPICTION OF WAR IN VISUAL ARTS
Depiction of War in Visual Arts
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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"Figures were never a compact mass but like a transparent construction."
The above quoted lines of Alberto Giacometti clearly indicate the nature of his art.
Alberto Giacometti has the influence of European art form in his work. He was a surrealist
during the 1930s and he used unique art forms in his sculptures sometimes taking references
from various toys or games1. According to Giacometti, “I paint and sculpt to get a grip on
reality... to protect myself”. After the Second World War he became an existentialist and he
created a style which portrayed human alienation and anxiety and expressed through a
philosophical approach. Taking about the nature of his work, Giacometti says, “All I can do will
only ever be a faint image of what I see and my success will always be less than my failure or
perhaps equal to the failure”. There are other artists whose sculptures or paintings have captured
the various emotions related to war. Some of the other artists who have focused their art forms
on war are George Gittoes, Peter Booth, Kathe Kollwitz, Max Beckman, Otto Dix, Picasso;
Guernica, IlitAzoulay, Ori Gersht Isra2.
Nora Heysen, famous as the first woman to win the prestigious Archibald Prize in the
year 1938, is another war artist in whose work the various facets of war are captured3. Her most
famous painting is the “Motherhood” (1941), which displays in detail the image of a mother
1 Grisebach, L., Hohl, R., Honisch, D., von Maur, K. and Schneider, A., 2008. Alberto Giacometti: sculpture,
paintings, drawings. Prestel.
2 Mathews, T., 2013. Alberto Giacometti: The art of relation. IB Tauris.
3 Hylton, J., 2009. Nora Heysen: light and life. Wakefield Press.

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holding her child4. Many critics consider it to be set in the middle of the cruelties of war, where a
mother is desperately trying to protect her child from the ugly realities of war and the dangers
which it entails with it5. This particular painting is often considered to be a result of her artistic
activities during the Second World War. Her own opinion about her work is significant to note
here, “strongly defined forms and earthy colours recalling European masters of the early
Renaissance”.
The “City Square” (1948) of Alberto Giacometti is often considered to be his
masterpiece6. The particular piece depicts a barren as well as a spacious landscape, where waif-
like figures are walking down on a bronze arrangement. He provides an overview of his work in
the words “Only reality interests me now and I know I could spend the rest of my life in copying
a chair”. It is to be noted that existentialist philosophers like Satre have described the figure to be
portraying man as an empty shadow of himself7. The piece is often considered to be portraying
man fluctuating forever between the state of “being and nothingness”, a concept popularised by
Satre..
4 Speck, C. ed., 2011. Heysen to Heysen: Selected Letters of Hans Heysen and Nora Heysen. National Library
Australia.
5 Speck, C., 2004. Painting ghosts-Australian women artists in wartime. Craftman's House.
6 Grisebach, L., Hohl, R., Honisch, D., von Maur, K. and Schneider, A., 2008. Alberto Giacometti: sculpture,
paintings, drawings. Prestel.
7 Alexander, J.C., 2008. Iconic experience in art and life: Surface/depth beginning with Giacometti's Standing
Woman. Theory, Culture & Society, 25(5), pp.1-19.

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Nora Heysen’s painting “Motherhood”, makes use of space, colour, visual and other
effects to drive home the meaningless of war. In this particular painting she uses the image of a
mother and her child to depict the theme of war. It is to be noted that both the works of
Giacometti and Heysen drive home the same message but through the use of different
techniques.
The works of Giacometti are redolent with the precepts of existentialism and surrealism.
His most notable work of art the “City Square” uses the theme of existentialism as well as
surrealism to depict the barrenness of modern day life. According to Giacometti, “The object of
art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity”. Thus, this particular
sculpture by Giacometti uses waif-like figures on a spacious landscape to drive home his point.
The monolith on which he showcases the five human beings can be taken to be a representation
of the present day world which has been rendered barren by the various wartime activities of its
inhabitants.
The painting of Heysen makes use of the concept of space to drive home the same
message. In the painting of Heysen, the mother and the child are portrayed in a sitting posture
where the mother is holding her child in a protective embrace, probably trying to protect the
child from the hazardous effects of war. Heysen was the first woman to be appointed as the
official Australian War Artist on October 23, 1943 at the rank of a Captain. It is to be noted that
in this particular painting Heysen makes use of her wartime experience and also the painting
showcases her expertise in the use of space in paintings. Heysen uses the concept of space to
depict the feelings of helplessness and utter loss of hope evoked by war. The painting of Heysen
powerfully depicts a helpless mother who desperately wants to protect her child from the
gruesomeness of war and its effects.

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The particular piece by Giacometti is made up of bronze8. It shows five figures, four men
and one woman, who look like the shadows of normal human beings. Many people think that the
work is trying to portray the isolation as well as separation of the modern men in the face of the
war. Many people tried to glorify war in the first part of the twentieth century. Thus, this work of
Giacometti can be seen as demystifying that particular myth by portraying the helpless human
condition and related emotions in the time of war and wartime activities. It is to be noted that the
work has been interpreted time in and time out in terms of existentialism and surrealism. The
painting of Heysen on the other hand, evokes deep feelings of loneliness and helplessness in the
face of the war by her depiction of a mother and a child in a sitting posture9. This particular
painting of Heysen is considered to reflect the danger and the isolation which people feel in
times of war and their desire to protect their loved ones from danger. It is to be noted that Heysen
herself served in the war and she used her own experiences of that time and the miseries which
she saw during that time in the painting.
The work of Giacometti is probably much better than Heysen, as Giacometti is trying to
depict the state of the entire modern race of men and the ugly realties of the war, whereas the
8 Grisebach, L., Hohl, R., Honisch, D., von Maur, K. and Schneider, A., 2008. Alberto Giacometti: sculpture,
paintings, drawings. Prestel.
9 Hylton, J., 2009. Nora Heysen: light and life. Wakefield Press.

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painting of Heysen focuses on the feelings of one particular individual10. It is significant to note
that both the works depicts artistic responses to the various facets of war.
Therefore, from the above discussion it becomes clear that war artists played an
important role in portraying the emotions of helplessness, loneliness, uncertainty, insecurity and
various others which people felt during the time of the war. The works of various war artists like
Giacometti and Heysen are redolent with the images of the various facets of war. It is to be noted
that the works of both the artists depict not just the condition of human beings during the war and
their artistic responses to the cruelties of war.
10 Grisebach, L., Hohl, R., Honisch, D., von Maur, K. and Schneider, A., 2008. Alberto Giacometti: sculpture,
paintings, drawings. Prestel.

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References
Alexander, J.C., 2008. Iconic experience in art and life: Surface/depth beginning with
Giacometti's Standing Woman. Theory, Culture & Society, 25(5), pp.1-19.

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Grisebach, L., Hohl, R., Honisch, D., von Maur, K. and Schneider, A., 2008. Alberto Giacometti:
sculpture, paintings, drawings. Prestel.
Hylton, J., 2009. Nora Heysen: light and life. Wakefield Press.
Mathews, T., 2013. Alberto Giacometti: The art of relation. IB Tauris.
Speck, C. ed., 2011. Heysen to Heysen: Selected Letters of Hans Heysen and Nora Heysen.
National Library Australia.
Speck, C., 2004. Painting ghosts-Australian women artists in wartime. Craftman's House.
The Museum of Modern Art. 2018. Alberto Giacometti. City Square. 1948 | MoMA. [online]
Available at: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/81373 [Accessed 22 Feb. 2018].

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Appendix 1
Alberto’s City Square (1938)

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Source: (The Museum of Modern Art, 2018)
Nora Heysen’s Motherhood

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Source: The Cicada Collective, 2008