Women and Children in War: Art Slideshow

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Art Slideshow

Liberty Leading the People (Eugene Delacroix, 1830)

Service on the Home Front (Louis Hirshman and William Tasker, 1942)

We Can Do It (J. Howard Miller, 1942)

Bring Him Home Sooner... Join the Waves (John Philip Falter, 1944)

Soldiers Saying Goodbye to women (Bettmann, 1950)

Speechless (Shirin Neshat, 1996)

A Kiss Goodbye (Unknown, 2004)

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Introduction

Men generally get all the attention in wars, because they are usually the brave ones fighting on the battlefields; women and children are generally neglected, because they are seen as “weak” and in need of “protection.” However, many overlook the struggles and dangers the women and children face when the men are away. Women who are left behind not only have to worry about the safety of their husbands, but also have to protect the lives of their children and themselves, since they are often the victims of war; and children usually deal with the disadvantage of growing up without a father to protect and advise them. This blog will reveal a new side of war by focusing on the emotions of the women and children in time of war.

Link to Ariana's Blog

Ariana’s Femininity in Propaganda is another blog that focuses on the role of women during wars. In Ariana’s blog, she included five propagandas that concentrate on the female gender. The first propaganda, “Rosie the Riveter”, shows how the role of women in war changed. Before, women’s job was only to take care of the family while the men were away; but now, women can join the army and fight side-by-side with the men. The second photograph, "Miliciana de Waswalito", also shows how women can take on many different responsibilities. Women can now fight for their country and nurture their children; they were not the “weak” anymore.

In contrast, the next three propagandas are all encouraging men to enroll, so they can protect their women and children. The painters of “Enlist”, “Destroy This Mad Brute—Enlist”, and “Keep these hands off”, are suggesting that women and children are frail and pathetic and that they should just stay under the protective wings of their men. Although she narrowed her focus on women in war propagandas, the overall theme of Ariana’s blog is intently connected to that of this blog.

Link to Chloe's Blog

Many art pieces in Chloe’s blog, Time to Say Goodbye, are directly related to the theme women and children in war. In particular, the painting “Woman with Dead Child” has a very similar connotation to “The Mothers”. Kathe Kollwitz, the creator of both pieces, used her own heart-breaking experience to express the grief and mourning of a mother who has lost her child. The mother in the painting represents all the women who have lost their family members because of war; Kathe Kollwitz wanted the world to notice how miserable the women felt after their men left to go to war.

The photo “V-J Day in Times Square”, like “Burst of Joy”, shows how happy and relieved the people were, after the end of the war. Using Chloe’s words, the embrace “represents saying goodbye to isolation, death, and fear. While many families would never be united again, most people celebrated the return of the soldiers, because they saw the opportunity to finally start a new chapter of their lives. Even though the overall theme of Time to Say Goodbye is not closely connected to that of this blog, many art pieces in her blog are parallel to the theme of women and children in war.