The Meaning of It All

This is a result of my visit to the Museum of Modern Art. The sub-pages on mural art of Diego Rivera and propaganda art originate from the same trip. But now on to tanks.

Dive Bomber and Tank, Jose Clemente Orozco – MoMA

This mural really made me stop and think. Initially, guided by the inner Marxist, I thought that this was a commentary on modern industry. Painted in 1940 it was actually a reaction to modern mechanized warfare (so I was not far, I thought it was the thing that made it all possible). In 194o, if we remember our history, the German military demonstrated to the world the superiority of mechanized and mobile warfare. Poland was unable to resist, but that was not much of a shock from a military point of view as they were terribly outnumbered and outgunned. The real shock came with the destruction of the combined British and French forces on the European continent. The Germans were able to completely outmaneuver the allied forces despite their large numbers and won the continent of Europe much faster than anyone thought possible. The artists is responding to mechanized warfare in that context.

The two truly novel elements in that mechanized warfare are the tank and the fighter/bomber. While both made their first appearance in World War One, they did not reach the stage of truly mass implementation by World War Two. The tank,depicted by the tracks to the left and right sides of the painting, would have been a very shocking thing for any soldiers facing it. Air power (this was harder to see, the wing is on the left and the central element is supposed to be the tail) could for the first time deliver direct damage to civilians on a large scale. The artist claims to be making no political statement but by depicting things as they are he is making a statement. The statement is that war in this form is terrible,as seen by the pair of upturned human legs. The faces with the chains could be people who are either economically (this was total war, complete mobilization of the civilian economy for war) or physically trapped in this war. The mood of the faces ranges from sorrow on the left to horror on the right. I would say that the horror of modernwarfare is conveyed really well by this artwork.