Artists During the
Second World War
The Second World War was terrible not only because of the violence and bombing typical of a war event, but also because of the different dictators who were in power all over Europe. The totalitarian regimes greatly affected the artistic works of many artists.
Dictators tend to control every aspect of society and to make sure that everything from the press, the art and the literature are conformed to the ideas of the regime. This situation was truly problematic for artists who couldn’t be free to express their artistic ideas and thoughts. Especially in Germany, under the dictatorship of Hitler artists and their art were censored and this censorship made many artists fly to the United States where they could find a more viable artistic environment. In addition, the American colleges and artistic academies were always trying to find new artists who could attend these schools, meanwhile in Europe artists were put away, excluded from society and it became impossible for them to paint or create works of art. Consequently, Paris, which was the traditional capital of art, was overtaken by the city of New York. New York became the new centre for artists because of the free environment and the great number of new emerging American artists. One of the most famous artists in America was Jackson Pollock who was the greatest representative of the “Abstract Expressionism”.
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These artists expressed in their paintings their protest against the war. Since violence was characterizing the history of that time, they used violence in their art through the use of the brush. Pollock used to drop paint on the canvas creating abstract figures expressing movement and speed. The difficult situation experienced by artists also affected Italian artists such as Lucio Fontana and Emilio Vedova. Lucio Fontana is best known for his canvas with a cut on it, which represented the violence of the war.
One of the most famous artists in the world is Pablo Picasso, who was also affected by the events of the war. He is the father of the Cubism, but he is also known for the painting “Guernica” painted in 1937. This painting was inspired by the real events that happened in a small town called Guernica which hit the Spanish painter really hard and inspired him to create this great work of art.
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During the war artists had problems painting and creating works of art, but somehow they all found a way to express themselves. However, their art was totally affected by the events and was the mirror of everything they were experiencing.