Image Of War Essay

The depiction of war is a common subject for artists to embark on because it speaks to the conventions of society during contentious times, but with each one, a different image emerges. John Trumbull’s The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775 provides a romanticized war of honorable sacrifice and an overall sense of hope. Timothy O’Sullivan’s A Harvest of Death at Gettysburg, July, 1863 narrates war on the complete other side of the spectrum with an un-idealized image of death, destruction, yet a twinge of hope. Trumbull’s representation is that of the traditional, romantic idea of war. The American Revolutionary War appears as a war of heroism. Light illuminates the painting, and intense, colorful hues splatter
O’Sullivan’s primary goal in his series of photographs was to challenge the romanticized image of war and expose the public to the resulting destruction of battle. He paints the American Civil War as an act not associated with heroism but with death. A foggy backdrop frames the bodies, and they are fairly far along in the decomposition process. So, the audience’s eyes go immediately to the deceased and continue on into the never ending distance, evoking the idea that there is a line of bodies that goes on past the picture plane. The Civil War has only left behind a multitude of corpses; war only kills, and there is nothing else that war is good for. Audiences look upon this photo and see the horrific, deadly results of war. The horseman that dominates the horizon is a symbol for the grim reaper, a character coming to reap the bodies in a non-heroic manner. No living landscape exists; the nature is dead, dried up, and trampled on by the soldiers, destroying any semblance of the living. O’Sullivan’s use of a sepia hue exemplifies this grim scene. Even though O’Sullivan provides a representation of the American Civil War that is of horror, he embeds a hidden sense of