Trench Art
Greetings from my French outpost. This week I am here in Provence, where one can find beautiful examples of World War I trench art, such as this decorated artillery shell.
Think about it. The first technological war, the beginning of Modernism. Women go to work for the first time, in munitions factories. Imagine the ambivalence of entering a man's world, and getting paid, only to find yourself making the very bombs that are killing your brothers, sons, friends, and lovers.
Meanwhile, the European countryside is being destroyed on a level that would have been unthinkable. Soldiers collect the empty artillery shells that litter the battlefield. Instead of returning them to the army to be recharged, they take them, illegally, into the trenches. Then, using whatever crude tools are at hand, they turn them into art.
Think about it. The first technological war, the beginning of Modernism. Women go to work for the first time, in munitions factories. Imagine the ambivalence of entering a man's world, and getting paid, only to find yourself making the very bombs that are killing your brothers, sons, friends, and lovers.
Meanwhile, the European countryside is being destroyed on a level that would have been unthinkable. Soldiers collect the empty artillery shells that litter the battlefield. Instead of returning them to the army to be recharged, they take them, illegally, into the trenches. Then, using whatever crude tools are at hand, they turn them into art.
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