L'art en Guerre

Musee de Art Moderne

L’art en Guerre (Art at War) exhibition at the Musée d’art Moderne is a handful to say the least. The context of the show deals with several issues involving the way artists and surrealist were treated and how they survived during this period of destruction. The exhibit takes the visitor through the different stages of war. Starting with the pre war art and then finishing post war art. The exhibition discusses how the war affected and created artwork and its artists.

Almost every exhibit deals with the themes of visibility and invisibly, what is appropriate to show, and what will make a statement. In this specific exhibit it is hard to say what was hidden and what was visible. With over a hundred different artists it seems that each one had their own opportunity to express themselves equally, and whatever was meant to hidden during the war, now had its own space and was allowed to be visible. The space was designed by separating the artworks into different rooms. The amount of light in each room was dependent upon the subject. There were a few items behind glass such as documents, and photographs. But for the majority of work the visitor had a chance to get to know the artwork. It felt as though the curator really wanted the visitor to get personal with the art collection, and feel some form of emotional reaction.  

The exhibition tackles several historical contexts. Upon entering the exhibition the visitor is struck by the context of surrealism before the war. This was a time where artists were branching out of the acceptable subject matter of the impressionist, and post-impressionist and delving into more abstract topics. Above the visitor giant sandbags hang from the ceiling that gives a feeling of suffocation and security. The idea was to transport the modern day audience back in time. As you continue to move through the first room large photographs and paintings come at you. When the exhibition was originally shown in the 1930’s it was done in complete darkness and the visitor had to use a flashlight to see what the piece of artwork they were looking at. Another example of historical context within the space was the depiction of fascist sculptures, the iconic and ideal man. The rooms twist and move with the art pieces and as you arrive half way through the exhibition you are greeted by a small section of commissioned artwork that depicts propaganda sculpture and painting. It was an interesting break to put in the exhibition which at that point was starting to feel a like intense. The most striking part of the exhibition I found was an entire room dedicated to artwork constructed during the artist’s time in captivity. The walls were printed with the artists names and had the time and place of their captivity next to them. Sober music drifted into the room to create an eerie feeling as you walked along the wall looking at sketches of daily life whilst in captivity.  In the article Visual Archives as Preposterous History by Ernst Van Alphen he discussed the genre of artwork as an archival source. The artwork produced by these artists in captivity was extremely archival. Not at first glance, but after walking around the room it was clear to see that they were depicting their daily lives and what they saw and dealt with. The article also mentions Christian Boltanski’s artwork his subject matter often deals with the holocaust and he uses archival artwork to depict it. As tough as this subject matter is, the use of medium is actually quite fitting. It deals with the thought of regarding people, and children as a number. Thousands of clothes stacked upon one another, but who do they belong too? It gives the audience a feeling of emptiness that once a person wore this item of clothing, but no longer do we know them or what happened to them.

The whole exhibition is a memory when dealing with such an intense topic the artwork is history which brings with it memory. For this exhibition the work hails back to a time when the museum was created and founded. It is a compliment to the infrastructure because it reminds the audience of the memory of the building, and the historical context behind it. The museum serves as a civic function to the audience the exhibition. It reminds Paris of its history and gives it a proud place to be shown.

What’s beautiful about being an artist is the ability to speak through artwork. Sometimes when people speak words can come in and drift out again. However, a painting or a photograph is there and unless destructed will not back down or go away. The justice for this time period was given through the artwork. The anger and the pain is seen on the canvas but also is allowed to be expressed and released from the artist. A primary example of this is Jean Fautrier la Juivre. This was an artist who spent the days of war hidden in a mental asylum under the protection of the director. The asylum was outside of Paris but situated right next to killing ground where Nazi troops would bring people to be shot. The artist constantly heard and saw this happening outside of his window and he created a new form or medium. He would create pictures using plaster; it was a hard medium for a difficult topic. His pictures are extremely abstract, but after hearing about who he was the audience or at least I was able to understand his message a little better.  

Below: Jean Fautrier La Juivre.