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Patriotism, Propaganda and Paint
Special exhibit explores the First World War’s impact on art at Wilmington University.
World War I has been described as the first modern war, but how did it influence modern art?
“World War I and Its Effect on Art,” is a presentation by art historian Anne Classen Knutson, Ph.D., sponsored by Wilmington University College of Arts and Sciences and Department of Student Life. The lecture by Knutson will explore the wide ranging impact of the "War to End All Wars" on the art of that era on Tuesday, November 1, 2016, at 6:00 p.m. at the New Castle campus .
The presentation and exhibit is free and open to the public. Auditorium doors will open at 4:00 p.m. for attendees to view an exhibit of 30 original posters that promoted the American war effort and an electronic slideshow of post-war art. The presentation and the exhibit, which is on loan from the Wilmington Public Library, will follow in the Audrey Kohl Doberstein Admissions Center auditorium at 6:00 p.m..
The presentation will also be streamed live for those not able to attend in person. Click here to view it live at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
Mr. Lynn Moore, M.A., chair of Wilmington University’s history department states that the early 20th century was a time of contrast for art. “During World War I, art was geared up for propaganda purposes, to pull the nation together,” he said. “But after the war, disillusionment set in over the trauma it caused and the lives that were lost, and the art changed.”
Knutson is co-editor of World War I and American Art, the definitive book about the war and its massive impact on American culture as reflected in the art of its time. She is also the co-curator of “World War I and American Art,” the first major museum exhibit to explore American artists’ reactions to the Great War. The traveling exhibit opens at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in Philadelphia on November 4 before traveling to the New York Historical Society and the Frist Center for Visual Arts in Nashville, Tennessee, next year. Knutson has coordinated other exhibits of American art at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, New York’s Guggenheim Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She was also a contributor to Andrew Wyeth: Memory & Magic (Rizzoli, 2005).
For more information about the special exhibit and then presentation, contact Lynn Moore at 302-356-6984 or by email to lynn.w.moore@wilmu.edu.
About Wilmington University
Wilmington University is a private, nonprofit institution committed to providing flexible, career-oriented, traditional and online associate, undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs. Ranked as the second fastest growing nonprofit doctoral institution in America 2004 – 2014 by The Almanac of The Chronicle of Higher Education, affordable tuition, academic excellence and individualized attention are hallmarks of the University that enable greater student success in their chosen careers. For more information, contact Wilmington University at 302-356-INFO (4636), via email at infocenter@wilmu.edu, or visit our website: www.wilmu.edu.
