New Connections appear every Wednesday. Sign up for a reminder.
Arms and armor curator Dirk Breiding contemplates the duality of war and the role of art which represents conflict.
My name is Dirk Breiding. I'm a curator in the arms and armor department, and I work with objects every day that in some way or another are connected with conflicts and wars.
If you think about conflicts and wars, you're basically thinking in extremes, that on the one level
you have war as something abstract, but I then you realize that there would be no war unless
individuals took part in it. Wars can be
fascinating when you just have to study them.
They must be absolutely horrifying when you're thrown into a war. And I've always been much more interested in
how individuals are affected. When I look at Washington Crossing the Delaware, he's obviously portrayed as some kind of a hero and
there's a lot of determination on his face, but what happens in war must be utter chaos. You can
only imagine when you look at the battlefield of Gettysburg, for example, you almost cynically think if you're thrown in the midst of something horrible like this, maybe you're the lucky one if you don't survive.
I wanted to look at people who did survive the war. The Veteran by Winslow Homer--you wouldn't even know that it is a veteran if the title didn't tell you. There are hints, but at first glance you would have no idea. I'm sure he's in some way happy that the war is over, but is he proud? Is he tormented by what he's experienced? You don't see the face, you can only guess really.
When, by contrast, you know this painting has all sorts of levels. He's obviously survived, but not only is he a Union soldier but he's also African American. If you just take him as a soldier and you look at him, he's still saluting despite his horrible injury. Is there some social commentary, you know, what was the artist trying to say or if you take the person at face value, what is he actually thinking at that point?
One of the things that armor does is it obscures the face. You have no idea what the person wearing a helmet with a visor is thinking, which makes armor to some people very scary. One of the
questions that doesn't seem to let me go is whether war is some kind of human condition, and that battle is not only a grown-up concept
even little children argue over the smallest things. And that almost lends a comical level to conflict.
You know, any victory that's been achieved, yes it's shaped history in a certain way but there's no way of telling how lasting the effects may be.
I like the intelligent way to show with humor how even the most serious of human endeavors can be completely useless. I think one of the problems is that we cannot pass on experiences. It sort of gets lost in time.
I'm German, and the second World War to my grandfather was a very real event that he lived through, to me it is a historical event that I relate to in a way, but I haven't experienced it. I think art offers one way of passing experiences on.
Of course art has a certain responsibility there as well. You can use art for propaganda purposes, and art can glorify war, but at the same time it can relate
some of the horrors. The danger is of course that you fall back into the safety again, that you look at the horrors and you take on the position of a voyeur, but that is
left to anyone, you know, how you want to look at art. Do you want to learn something? Do you want to enjoy it? Do you want to always see something uplifting? Or do you want something
thought-provoking?
Works of art in order of appearanceLast Updated: June 22, 2015. Not all works of art in the Museum's collection may be on view on a particular day. For the most accurate location information, please check this page on the day of your visit. |
||
[Cavalry Maneuvers, Camp de Châlons] 1857 Gustave Le Gray (French) Albumen silver print from glass negative Gilman Collection, Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2005 (2005.100.49) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
|
PhotographsSecond Floor | |
The Battles of Hogen and Heiji Edo period, 17th century Japanese Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, and gold on paper Rogers Fund, 1957 (57.156.4–5) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
|
Asian ArtSecond Floor | |
Oba with Animals 18th–19th century Nigeria; Edo peoples, court of Benin Brass Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls, 1991 (1991.17.113) Altar to the Hand (Ikegobo) of Ezomo Ehenua 18th–19th century Nigeria; Edo peoples, court of Benin Brass Rogers Fund, 1996 (1996.11) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
|
Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the AmericasFirst Floor | |
Interior Scene with Soldiers Pillaging 17th century Anonymous Pen and black ink, watercolor, gouache The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1952 (52.567.1) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
|
Drawings and PrintsSecond Floor | |
Washington Crossing the Delaware 1851 Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze (German, active United States) Oil on canvas Gift of John Stewart Kennedy, 1897 (97.34) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
|
American Paintings and SculptureFirst and Second Floors | |
Field Where General Reynolds Fell, Battlefield of Gettysburg 1863 Timothy O'Sullivan (American) Albumen silver print from glass negative Gilman Collection, Purchase, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Gift, 2005 (2005.100.502.1) (1–50) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
|
PhotographsSecond Floor | |
The Veteran in a New Field 1865 Winslow Homer (American) Oil on canvas Bequest of Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot (1876–1967), 1967 (67.187.131) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
|
American Paintings and SculptureFirst and Second Floors | |
A Bit of War History: The Veteran 1866 Thomas Waterman Wood (American) Oil on canvas Gift of Charles Stewart Smith, 1884 (84.12c) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
|
American Paintings and SculptureFirst and Second Floors | |
Armor of heavy cavalry ca. 1610–20 Italian (Milan or Brescia) Steel, gold, leather, and textile Purchase, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Gift, 2002 (2002.130a–p) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
|
Arms and ArmorFirst Floor | |
Battle of Naked Men 1465 Antonio Pollaiuolo (Italian, Florentine) Engraving Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1917 (17.50.99) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
|
Drawings and PrintsSecond Floor | |
Three Little Girls in a Room Arguing and Spitting 19th century Lorenz Frølich (Danish) Pen and black ink over traces of a graphite underdrawing, touches of white gouache Gift of Lincoln Kirstein, 1966 (66.576.10 (11)) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
|
Drawings and PrintsSecond Floor | |
Aeneas Rescues His Father from Burning Troy 1627 Rudolf Meyer (Swiss) Pen and black ink, gray wash Purchase, Stephen A. Geiger Gift and Harry G. Sperling Fund, 2001 (2005.120) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
|
Drawings and PrintsSecond Floor | |
The Battle about Money after 1570 Pieter van der Heyden after Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Netherlandish) Engraving; second state of four Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926 (26.72.40) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
|
Drawings and PrintsSecond Floor | |
[American Troops Landing on D-Day, Omaha Beach, Normandy Coast] 1944 Robert Capa (American, born Hungary) Gelatin silver print Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987 (1987.1100.501) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
|
PhotographsSecond Floor | |
The Heroic Song of Stalingrad 1943 Karl Goetz (German) Bronze Gift of Stephen K. Scher, 2009 (2009.274) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
|
European Sculpture and Decorative ArtsFirst Floor | |
And There's Nothing to Be Done (Y no hai remedio) 1810–23 Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish) Etching, drypoint, burin, and burnisher Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1932 (32.62.17) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
|
Drawings and PrintsSecond Floor | |
jpeg ny02 2004 Thomas Ruff (German, born 1958) Chromogenic print Purchase, Denise and Andrew Saul Gift; Marlene Nathan Meyerson Gift, in memory of Andrew H. Golkin; Pamela and Arthur Sanders and The Robert A. and Renée E. Belfer Family Foundation Gifts; Neil C. S. Hirsch Gift; and Marian and James H. Cohen Gift, in memory of their son, Michael Harrison Cohen, 2006 (2006.92) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
|
PhotographsSecond Floor | |
© 2011 The Metropolitan Museum of Art |