Looking at historic Russian anti-war art can provide an excellent start to examine today’s artists, and the works of Vasily Vereshchagin could be that point of departure. After all, if it is shocking enough to make Moltke the Elder clutch his medals, maybe we should all take a peek before it is too late.
#Reviewing Victor in Trouble: The Value of Satire as a Tool of Professional Development
Finley’s work is part of a long and glorious tradition of satire in the world of military and foreign affairs. Her books are a welcome mental break for modern audiences, but the wellspring of military and diplomatic satire was already deep. For autocratic societies, where censorship is a defining characteristic, satirists walk fine lines to say quiet thoughts out loud.
The Art of Empire: Great Britain’s Victorian War Artist, Elizabeth Thompson Butler
Art provides a unique option for military and strategy professionals to examine what tips a society into change. Much like a rigorous campaign analysis enables understanding of a culture moving its military to and from wars, analyzing a body of artwork can provide insight into how a nation views its military forces and actions.
The Art of War: Examining Picasso’s Guernica as a Tool for Leader Professional Development
When leaders re-examine their professional development programs, expanding these programs to include the visual and fine arts presents unique options. Like professional reading lists, the fine arts offer opportunities to explore both the history and societal views of war from an overlooked perspective, the perspective of artists. Artistic interpretation of events allows viewers to glimpse a society at a moment in time as well as an enduring perspective of a larger conflict, much like Picasso’s epic mural was an interpretation of both Franco’s dictatorship and the discrete attack on the town of Guernica.
Mining History and Undermining Security: The Impact of the Illicit Antiquities Market on War and Security
Where conflict, instability, and insecurity exist, illicit markets for desired goods follow. Unimpeded—or even encouraged—by local law enforcement or security forces, the trafficking of cultural property is also a faster, simpler process for private collectors when the means for peacetime physical security of museums, monuments, ancient sites, and collections is focused elsewhere while fighting.