World War 2 began in 1939 with Germany invading Poland and ended in 1945 with the US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The war devastated Europe and brought revelations of the Holocaust where an estimated 6 million Jews were killed. Many artists felt compelled to bear witness through their work, grappling with how to represent the indescribable horrors of war and the concentration camps. This led to the emergence of abstract styles in Europe and America as artists searched for ways to represent the trauma that seemed beyond conventional means.

1. World War II
Art 109A: Art Since 1945
Westchester Community College
Fall 2012
Dr. Melissa Hall

2. World War II
(1939-1945)
World War II began in
1939 with the German
invasion of Poland
German troops parade through Warsaw, Poland. PK Hugo J.ger, September 1939
http://www.archives.gov/research/ww2/photos/

3. World War II
(1939-1945)
In 1940 Paris, which had been the
center of the European avant
garde, fell to the Nazis
Adolf Hitler in Paris, June 23, 1940
http://www.archives.gov/research/ww2/photos/

4. World War II
(1939-1945)
The Japanese bombing of
Pearl Harbor in 1941 brought
the United States into the
conflict
Sinking of the USS Virginia, Pearl Harbor, 1941
Image source: http://aboutjapan.japansociety.org/content.cfm/pearl_harbor_attack

5. World War II
(1939-1945)
The US bombing of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
brought the war to an end in
1945
Mushroom cloud of smoke billowing 20,000 ft. in the air after atomic explosion over the
city of Hiroshima, August 6, 1945 LIFE

6. Hiroshima before the bombing Hiroshima after the bombing
Image source: Image source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki

7. Aftermath
Europe lay in ruins
Herbert Mason, St. Paul’s, London, during the Blitz, 1940
Wikipedia
William Vandivert, Dresden after the Allied bombing, 1946
LIFE

8. Aftermath
Russia and the United States
emerged as opposed
superpowers with competing
claims to world dominance.
Joseph Stalin, political leader of the
Harry S. Truman, President of the United States 1945-1953
Soviet Union, 1924-1953
Image source: http://www.presidentialtimeline.org/html/record.php?id=100

9. Aftermath
Under the “Truman Doctrine”
Russia and the United States
entered the Cold War
Harry S. Truman Delivering the Truman Doctrine Speech, 1947
Image source: http://www.trumanlibrary.org/photographs/displayimage.php?pointer=14687

10. Aftermath
This took the form of an arms race
Image source:
http://www.darkgovernment.com/news/cold-war-
espionage-and-computer-security/
Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_arms_race

11. Aftermath
And the advent of the “nuclear
age”
Image source: http://www.conelrad.com/books/print.php?id=267_0_1_0

12. Aftermath
The end of the war also
brought revelations of the
Nazi extermination camps
Buchenwald Concentration Camp, April 16, 1945
LIFE

13. Aftermath
The most shocking
discoveries were made by
British troops at Bergen-
Belsen in April 1945
“As they explored No.1 Camp, the
liberators encountered scenes
reminiscent of Dante's Inferno - a
living example of hell on earth.
They discovered 20,000 emaciated
naked corpses lying unburied on
the open ground or in the barrack
blocks. Some inmates had literally
starved to death where they lay,
too weak even to drag their wasted
bodies away from the typhus-
infested corpses that surrounded
them.” Bergen-Belsen, 1945
Dr. Stephen A. Hart, “Liberation of the Concentration
Camps,” BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/
liberation_camps_04.shtml

14. Aftermath
There were so many corpses
it was necessary to use a
bulldozer to move them to a
mass grave
The Liberation of Belsen Concentration Camp April 1945: A British Army bulldozer
pushes bodies into a mass grave at Belsen. - 19 April 1945 Imperial War Museum

15. Aftermath
3,000 lives were lost in the
World Trade Center attack
The northeast face of Two World Trade Center (south tower) after being struck by plane in the
southwest face. Image source: Wikipedia

16. Aftermath
An estimated 6 million jews
were killed in Nazi
concentration camps
A British soldier at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, May 1945. The camp was
burned. The sign was put up to tell the world about the horrors that went on there.
Image source:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/world_war2/the_war_ends/
teachers_resources.shtml

17. Aftermath
When General Dwight G.
Eisenhower led his troops into
the Nazi concentration camp
at Dachau he wrote: “The
things I saw beggar
description.”
American GI’s under the command of General Eisenhower
Dachau, 1945

18. Aftermath
Many others referred to the
“unspeakable,” “indescribable,”
or “un-representable” nature of
what they had seen
The Liberation of Belsen Concentration Camp April 1945: Former guards are made to load
the bodies of dead prisoners onto a lorry for burial. - 17-18 April 1945 IWM
Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bergen_Belsen_Liberation_01.jpg

19. Bearing Witness
Although Eisenhower thought
that what he saw was
indescribable, he did do so
anyway – sensing the
necessity of bearing witness
for future generations
General Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1945
Wikimedia

20. Bearing Witness
The necessity of “bearing
witness” to the trauma of war
was the most compelling
concern for the postwar
generation of artists
A British soldier at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, May 1945. The camp was
burned. The sign was put up to tell the world about the horrors that went on there.
Image source:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/world_war2/the_war_ends/
teachers_resources.shtml

21. Bearing Witness
The challenge they faced was
to represent something that
was unrepresentable
Walter E. Cummings, Buchenwald Ohrdruf Corpses
Image source: Wikimedia

22. Bearing Witness
Many of them chose an
abstract style -- believing it
was the only way to
represent what could not be
described by more
conventional means
Pablo Picasso, Charnel House, 1945
Museum of Modern Art

23. Postwar
Abstraction
In the immediate aftermath of
the war, artists on both sides
of the Atlantic arrived at
abstract styles independently
Arshile Gorky, Charred Beloved, 1946

24. Postwar
Abstraction
While abstract expressionism
was emerging in the United
States in the 1940’s, its
European counterpart, l’art
informel, was developing in
France
Jean Fautrier, Nude, 1943 (from the Otages series)
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

25. Postwar
Abstraction
New approaches to figuration
also registered the trauma of
war
Jean Dubuffet Alberto Giacometti
Large Sooty Nude Man Pointing

26. Postwar
Abstraction
Our study of postwar art
will begin in Europe, but it
is important to keep in mind
that American Abstract
Expressionism was
emerging at the same time
Nina Leen, The Irascibles, 1950
LIFE Magazine

27. Web Resources
Audio Slideshow of the Liberation of Belsen, with the original BBC radio broadcast
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/4445811.stm
Liberation of the Concentration Camps –BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/liberation_camps_01.shtml
Video on The Holocaust (YouTube)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHAF0sgzKOs
Documentary on Hiroshima (YouTube)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9lwvImJqT0
John Cage In the Name of the Holocaust
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8CSLliG2oo