War Monuments & Memorials

I thought it was appropriate to conclude our first look at War Artists with War Monuments and Memorials. I’m not going to try to analyse any of these works as each one speaks for itself. Words are not required. Our thoughts for the children, women and men  involved throughout time in conflicts from all sides bind us together.

This battle was the first major action by Australian troops on the Western Front in WW1 and the number of casualties was horrendous.  I believe the same statue can also be found in the Australian Memorial Park Fromelles, France.

The slabs are arranged in rows, 54 of them going north–south, and 87 heading east–west at right angles but set slightly askew.  The whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason. Underground a Place of Information holds the names of approximately 3 million Jewish Holocaust victims, obtained from the Israeli museum Yad Vashem.

The Monument is conceived as an experiential environment comprised of six triangular, concrete volumes configured to create the points of a star.

The monument is dedicated to the memory of Sadako Sasaki and the thousands of child victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.  

There will be a break in the Blog for a day to reflect.

And then we are going back to France to look at the work of Auguste Rodin and Camille Claudel. Why Rodin? Because one of his most famous sculptures commemorates an event that occurred during the Hundred Years’ War between the French and the English. Why Camille Claudel? Because in addition to being Rodin’s model, lover and inspiration, Camille was his artistic equal.