Week 8: A World Painted in Blood: The Grim Art of World War II

A World Painted in Blood: The Grim Art of World War II

    This week, I decided to delve deep into the trauma and destruction of World War II art. The art from this particular era delved deep into raw emotion, death, gore, and pain. A brutal conflict between many nations. Art in this era was often portrayed with some heroism involved, but much of it showed the brutal costs of this type of conflict. If you've seen my previous blogs, you know that I like to dive into the more morbid and dark side of artistic history, and this blog will be no different, as seen with the first photo here, called The Price by Tom Lea.

 The Price by Tom Lea, 1944,  El Paso, Texas, USA, Oil on canvas

    The three artworks from Tom Lea that will be shown in this blog are from the Battle of Peleliu in 1944, as he made these artworks to correspond with Life magazine on the front pages. This particular image shows a U.S. Marine with part of his face, left arm, and left abdomen absolutely devastated by enemy fire. The blood is so viscerally red that your eyes are immediately drawn to it. Lea was great with this, as he didn't shy away from showing the gruesomeness of war; instead, she showed how physically devastating it could be upon a person. Something I found quite interesting was that Leah painted these after witnessing the battle of Peladeau, meaning he painted this from memory. The image was so burned into his brain that he was able to paint it perfectly from what he saw.

    I do quite love Tom Lea's art style, as the lines, while soft, don't take away from the image itself. The lines are realistic and detailed, adding to the image. The composition of the blood flow showing this poor man in absolutely agonizing pain, with the bloody portion being front and center in the painting, reads, The last thing I noticed when looking at this painting was the color; the dark, earthy tones of the uniform help the soldier to blend in to the surroundings, while the bright red blood is a stark contrast to wanting to blend in. The red truly dominates the image, putting the focus immediately on the violence of war.

Hitting the Beach by Tom Lea, 1944, El Paso, Texas, USA, Oil on canvas

    As stated above, Tom Lea's artworks were made after he witnessed the battle of Peleliu in 1994. This particular piece of artwork shows American soldiers who made it to the beach immediately coming under heavy enemy fire and grenades, with two seemingly getting caught in a grenade explosion and dying. We see two soldiers on the floor; one of them is clearly dead with blood seeping out of a gunshot wound, while the other one is looking startled and scared on the floor. We see three soldiers running with their hands in front of their faces to try to get into cover before they get shot. The tank on the right of the image is on fire, showing that the soldiers barely made it to the beach in one piece before getting bombarded.

    The art elements that stood out to me the most were the line work, and this one was stronger and more dynamic on the soldiers, showing their fluid movements. The way the soldiers are moving fills me with a sense of urgency, like I need to get to cover as soon as possible, or I may end up as another body in a grave. The texture of this particular painting is gritty and rough, which adds to the smoke in the background. You can almost feel the sand in the soldier's boots. Finally, there's the color; the red and orange explosion immediately fills you with a sense of danger. With the contrast of the earthy greens and browns, it really makes the fiery red and orange stand out against the dulled earth tones. 

Marines Call It That 2,000 Yard Stare by Tom Lea, 1944, El Paso, Texas, USA, Oil on canvas.

    Unlike the two previous art pieces by Tom Lea, this one doesn't have a single drop of blood in it. This one is more psychological than physical violence. This particular piece is quite haunting, and while it has become a meme over the years, let that not distract from how traumatizing this soldier's gaze truly is. Eyes unfocused and vacant, helmet disheveled, and mouth slightly ajar. This soldier has witnessed true horrors in combat, and I truly believe that this man was going through a PTSD episode, reliving all the horrors he witnessed. War doesn't just take people away with physical violence, but those who do survive are left with psychological scars on their minds.

    This art piece truly makes my heart ache for all the soldiers in battle, on both sides of the war. The line art on the soldier, especially around his facial hair, has a texture that is disheveled and gritty. My brain immediately goes to “this man has not been able to shower for weeks, maybe even months, and has witnessed true atrocities.” The colors of this particular painting are earthy and muted with greens, browns, and grays; the only color contrast is in the soldiers' eyes, with them being red around the edges and wide. It really draws you to look at his vacant stare, almost like he's looking past you.

End of a Busy Day, Franklin Boggs, 1942, exact location not definitively documented, Oil on canvas

    A fun fact I learned about this art piece was that the artist, when painting this scene in the river, had initially painted the man who's doing the washing naked, as the man who was washing the stretcher was naked, but Boggs was asked to put some underwear on the man, as even though they were at war, they wanted decency on a being. I just thought that was a fun fact about this painting. On to the more nitty-gritty part, this particular painting shows a side of war that you don't often get to see, not one of battle, but one of cleanliness. There is a somber feeling when looking at this, though, as clearly the medics have many stretchers they need to clean with blood upon them from wounded or dead soldiers. Still, the stretchers need to be cleaned, and they won't clean themselves.

    Comparatively, the texture of this painting is similar yet different from Tom Lea's painting style. It feels almost like Vaseline was rubbed on a camera lens, with the glimmer let us cast upon all the stretchers leaning against the ambulance. The line art on this particular painting is less rough and a little more polished and smooth-looking compared to Tom Lea's paintings. Contrasting bright colors of the yellow and orange on the stretchers to the more earthy tones of the ambulance and the scenery around the two men, to me, shows a paradigm between life and death. The stretchers are life-giving in the sense of being able to quickly move wounded soldiers to an area where they might be able to receive help. The shadows in this particular painting are a lot harsher than in the previous three paintings on my blog, especially with the ambulance, as you can't even see inside of it.

Death of the Shoho by Robert Benney, c. 1944, exact location not definitively documented. Oil on canvas

    Unlike many of the wartime paintings that were done, this one doesn't have a single person shown in it; instead, it is on the open sea with carrier ships being shown on fire and airplanes fighting in the sky. This particular piece has quite the significance in history, as this was the sinking of a Japanese aircraft carrier during the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942, and it was done all by aircraft. The ships never directly saw each other and never directly fired upon each other; the sinking of the ships was done solely by aircraft. Instead of the destruction of war being shown in a smaller setting with people, it is on a larger scale with explosions, fire, and smoke surrounding not only the Soho but also a ship in the distance that is being fired upon. On the right side of the painting, you can see a plane that is falling into the water that was on fire, presumably being shot out of the sky. There is a plane that is in clear view towards the top of the painting that shows an Allied plane, while the ship below has a clear Japanese flag on it. This marked exactly who was against whom in the background of the painting.

    The line art towards the base of the fire is strong and sharp, while the smoke going upwards is lighter and fluffier. The cloud trails behind the flames are also sharp, showing just how quickly they were really moving in the fight. Speaking of moving, there is an energy about the painting that signifies movement. A plane in the background has a smoke trail behind it, while a plane in the foreground has a trail that's much more vertical than the one in the background, signifying a crash. The cannons of a ship in the background have smoke and fire coming out of them, while the ship in the foreground is literally on fire, showing the movement of the wind and its direction. Then there is the color within the painting; the blue of the sea is a calming contrast to the red, orange, and yellow fire raging above on the ship's deck. This painting instills a sense of awe in me, as it was such a technological advancement to have aircraft be able to sink such a large ship.

Night Work by Kerr Eby, 1944, exact location not definitively documented, Drawing, Charcoal on Paper

    This last piece of artwork is a bit different from the previous one, as there is no color truly in this artwork; it is just black and white, specifically charcoal on paper instead of oil on canvas. When I first saw this particular one, I almost felt like I was there in that moment when the cannon was fired, the blinding light creating such harsh, visceral shadows. It really brings forward the mood of the setting, as you can't really see the expressions of the people, as the shadows are too strong from the explosion. To me, this symbolizes how these people here aren't really people, but more or less colleagues in the machine of war.

The first thing that jumps out to me in this drawing is how harsh the lines are towards the bottom, creating really strong contrasts between the light and the shadows. The texture is scratchy and sharp, you can see how the artist was almost quick with the sketchings on the outside, and then got a bit more focused on the sketching towards the cannon itself. This drawing is filled with tension and chaos as you don't know where this cannon was aimed, don't know if it hit its target or not. All you know is it was fired.

Looking back at all of these paintings here I don't think I could see myself with a single one of these paintings in my house. They're all too visceral and painful, as they invoke feelings of despair and dread in me. I am absolutely aghast at how truly horrible war was just captured on canvas and paper. I can't imagine living through this period or going to war for people I'll never meet.

Citations:

Cressman, Robert J. “The Sinking of the Shoho.” Naval History Magazine, vol. 20, no. 2, Apr. 2006, https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2006/april/sinking-shoho. Accessed 17 Apr. 2025.

Curry, Master Sgt. Sean M. “Art Tells the Story of Airmen in WWII.” 514th Air Mobility Wing, 6 May 2022, https://www.514amw.afrc.af.mil/News/Photos/igphoto/2003007713/. Accessed 17 Apr. 2025.

Dominguez, Daniel. “World War II Museum Showcases Tom Lea Art.” El Paso Times, 20 June 2016, https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/history/2016/06/20/world-war-ii-museum-showcases-tom-lea-art/86114884/. Accessed 17 Apr. 2025.

Hamilton, W. F. Strong. “Tom Lea’s War.” Texas Co-op Power, https://texascooppower.com/tom-leas-war/. Accessed 17 Apr. 2025.

National WWII Museum. “The Battle of Peleliu: A Forgotten Hell.” The National WWII Museum, https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/battle-peleliu-forgotten-hell. Accessed 17 Apr. 2025.

New York Public Library. “Tom Lea Papers.” NYPL Archives & Manuscripts, https://archives.nypl.org/the/21613. Accessed 17 Apr. 2025.

PBS. “Art by Howard Brodie.” They Drew Fire, PBS, https://www.pbs.org/theydrewfire/gallery/small/113.html. Accessed 17 Apr. 2025.

U.S. Navy. “Night Work.” Naval History and Heritage Command, https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/art/exhibits/conflicts-and-operations/wwii/marines-in-action/night-work.html. Accessed 17 Apr. 2025.