by Peter Keefer

These collage drawings reflect and represent my response to 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 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 and UV resistant acrylic when completed.

May we each walk in the path of beauty towards peace for all.

BIBLIOGRAPHY IN ORDER OF READING

“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

“Mud, Blood And Poppycock,” Gordon Corrigan, Cassell, 2003

“A Storm In Flanders,” Winston Groom, Grove Press, New York, 2002

“Bismarck And The German Empire,” Erich Eyck, W W Norton & Co, 1968

“Echoes Of Eagles,” Charles Woolley, New American Library, 2004

“The First World War,” John Keegan, Alfred Knopf, 1999

“Yanks,” John S D Eisenhower, Simon & Schuster, 2001

“The Illusion Of Victory,” Thomas Fleming, Basic Books, 2003

“Eyewitness World War I,” edited by Jon E Lewis, Carroll & Graf, 2003

“On The Origins Of War,” Donald Kagan, Anchor Books, Doubleday, 1995

“Lawrence The Rebel,” Edward Robinson, Lincolns-Prager, 1946

“Combat World War I,” edited by Don Congdon, Dell, 1964

“The Great War Generals on the Western Front,” Robin Neillands, Constable & Robinson, Ltd, London 1999

“Great Battles Of World War I,” Anthony Livesey, Marshall Editions, London, 1989

“Revolt In The Desert,” T E Lawrence, George H Doran, 1926

“Rites Of Spring,” Modris Eksteins, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1989

“Leslie’s Photographic Review Of The Great War,” edited by Edgar Allen Forbes, Leslie-Judge Company, New York City, 1920

“The Nations Of Europe, The Causes And Issues Of The Great War,” Charles Morris, John C Winston Co, Philadelphia, PA, 1914

“The Pity Of War,” Niall Ferguson, Basic Books/Perseus, 1999

“Sabotage At Black Tom,” Jules Whitcover, Algonquin Books Of Chapel Hill, 1989

“Over There”, Frank Freidel, Bramhall House, New York, 1964

“The First World War, An Illustrated History,” A J P Taylor, Penguin Putnam, 1972

“The Great War In Africa (1914-1918),” Byron Farwell, W W Norton Co, 1986

“The Lady Of The Lake,” Sir Walter Scott, Houghton Mifflin Co, 1908 (1810)

“The Great War And Modern Memory,” Paul Fussell, Oxford University Press, 1975

“Warlord,” Carlo D’Este, Harper Collins, 2008

“The First World War,” Hew Strachan, Simon & Schuster, 2003

“Horses Don’t Fly,” Frederick Libby, Arcade Publishing, New York, 2000

“Curse Of The Narrows,” Laura M Mac Donald, Walker & Co, New York, 2005

“Men At War,” edited by Ernest Hemingway, Berkley Publishing Corp, New York, 1958 (1942)

+“Blowing Up A Train,” T E Lawrence, from “Seven Pillars Of Wisdom, 1926

+“The Odyssey Of Three Slavs,” Alden Brooks, 1917

+”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

+”The War Years,” James Hilton, 1934

“On The Frontline, True World War I Stories,” edited by C B Purdom, Constable & Robinson, Ltd, London 2009, (1997)

“The Age of the Battleship: 1890 – 1922,” Brayton Harris, Franklin Watts Inc, 1965

“The Millionaire’s Unit,” Marc Wortman, PublicAffairs, Perseus, 2006

“Sea Power.” Edited by E B Potter & Chester W Nimitz, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1960

“Lusitania,” Diana Preston, Berkley Publishing, NY, 2002

“The War Lovers,” Evan Thomas, Little, Brown, NY, 2010

“Echoes of Armageddon, 1914-1918,” B Cory Kilvert, Jr, Author House, 2004

“Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour,” Joseph E Persico, Random House, 2004

“Among The Dead Cities,” AC Grayling, Walker & Co, NY 2006

“The Long Way Home”, David Laskin, Harper Luxe, 2010

“Paris 1919,” Margaret Macmillan, Random House 2003

“King, Kaiser, Tsar”, Catrine Clay, Walker & Co, 2006