These collage drawings reflect and represent to me the actions of the political and military participants most involved in “The Great War” of 1914-1918. We all seem to be against war, but it still keeps happening; men just love to fight and I would just love to have a testosterone test for all who were involved.

I chose this war as a symbol for all wars because it was both long enough ago to be viewed purely as history but recent enough to have had a direct influence on world politics since then. It was also the first war to incorporate the individual violence of the soldier and the mechanized warfare of the 20th century.

“A generation died and with it a civilization, messily, in horror, leaving an appalling legacy of guilt. Idealism was betrayed…” — P. D. James

I have been working on the (detail) series since 1981. My first subject was Otto von Bismarck, the German Imperial Chancellor, who I feel was one of the primary forces behind the events leading up to the war. Although I have found the Germans to have been the most important contributors, I have included others such as Churchill (England), Marshal Oyama (Japan), the Comte de Chambord (France), Lenin (Russia) and Admiral Mahan (United States). Each had their part in the chaos that was World War I. The larger drawings are about the personalities; the smaller ones are about individual battles of the war.

The collage areas are a photograph, ink on mylar, or a section of oil on canvas mounted on larger paper and drawn around with the subject’s (so-called) accomplishments in mind. The drawing is oil pastel, lithographic ink and pencil wash and is coated with gel medium when completed.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Disasters Of War, Francisco Goya, Dover Art Books, 1967
Painting In The Twentieth Century, Werner Haftmann, Frederick A Praeger, 1966
The German Empire: 1870-1918, Michael Sturmer, Modern Library, 2000
European History: 1870-1918, Dr. Robert Johnson, Studymates, Ltd., 2004
Forgotten Voices of the Great War, Max Arthur, Lyons Press, 2004
The Proud Tower, Barbara Tuchman, Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1966
The Guns Of August, Barbara Tuchman, Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1962
The Zimmermann Telegram, Barbara Tuchman, Random House, 1994
Somme, Lyn McDonald, Michael Joseph Ltd, 1983
To The Last Man, Lyn Macdonald, Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc., 1998
Europe’s Last Summer, David Fromkin, Knopf, 2004
Testament Of Youth, Vera Brittain, Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1933
Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the coming of the Great War, Robert K Massie, Random House, 1991
Castles Of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea, Robert K Massie, Ballantine Books, 2003
The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Visions of Glory, 1874-1932, William Manchester, Little, Brown, 1983
Unknown Soldiers, Neil Hanson, Alfred Knopf, 2006
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Air Battle, Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall, 1929
Turn About, William Faulkner, 1934
Her Privates We, Private 19022, 1930
The Battle Of Ypres, Frank Richards, 1933
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