Horrors of War

August Gaber, Death in the Village, 1849, from Another Dance of Death (Auch ein Totentanz), 1849, woodcut, Mary G. Ellis Fund, 1972.128

Through November 26, 2006

Drawn from the permanent collection, this exhibition of about sixty works offers a glimpse of how war has been a perennial subject for Western artists since the Renaissance. The gallantry and romance of the military will be contrasted to the devastation and misery caused by military conflict. A selection of prints, drawings, and photographs represents warfare and its effects on soldiers, civilian victims, and greater society. Some of the great masters of printmaking history have confronted this subject, artists like Jacques Callot, Francisco Goya, Edouard Manet, and Kathe Kollwitz. Since it was first used as a documentary tool for the Crimean War in the mid-nineteenth century, photography has become the primary means by which most of us confront and understand the realities of war. This exhibition will also include the work of great photographers, from images of the Civil War by George N. Barnard to battlefield scenes of World War II by Robert Capa and Margaret Bourke White.

Select Images from the Exhibition