Welcome to Xander's Art Blog!

A collection of thought provoking art found online!

Inside you will find art pertaining to war, from many different artist, across many different cultures.

This gallery is run by: Thomas Ramirez

Exhibition on World War One

Inside you will find a collection of art from the following artists:

John Nash

Umberto Boccioni

William Orpen

John Singer Sargent

Henry Tonks

Gilbert Rogers

William Hatherell

Charles Sims

Otto Dix

Richard Jack

In this exhibition you will find a collection of art from the First World War. The art is focused on the harsh reality of war, and the characteristics unique to the First World War. Ranging from the use of trenches, gas and barbed wire in battle, to the inner psyche of the soldiers who endured.

John Nash

Over the Top 

Artist: John Nash

Media: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 78.8 x 108 cm

Date: 1918

John Nash was born in London, on April 11^th 1893. John’s father was a lawyer and his mother came from a naval family. When John was a teenager his mother developed a mental illness, she later died in the mental hospital. John grew up and became a journalist where he worked for a local newspaper. Sometime later his older brother encouraged him to become a water color painter. Without any formal schooling John became a landscape and comic artist. His art was shown in galleries alongside his brothers. John’s health initially kept him from joining the military when the First World War broke out, but after some time he was able to join the Artists’ Rifles from 1916 through 1918. In 1918 john became an official war artist. After the war John taught at Ruskin school of Drawing and Fine Art in Oxford. John also became a printmaker and founded the Society of Wood Engravers. When the Second World War hit, John again became an official war artist and was promoted to rank of Captain in the Royal Marines. In 1967 the Royal Academy held a retrospective exhibition in his honor, the first time this had been done for any living artist. More Info

                The reason I chose this painting from John Nash because it looks simple but packs a punch. As the soldiers advance many are shot down left to rot in no man's land. World War one was the first war to be fought exclusively in tranches. There were elaborate trench systems dug from the Western side of Belgium and all the way through France down to Switzerland. It was said that the tranches had the stench of feces and rotten flesh. Many soldiers developed trench foot, A buildup of fungus that often lead to gangrene and foot amputation. In many places the trenches of both sides were so close together that the soldiers could hear the commotion on the enemy.

Umberto Boccioni

The Charge of the Lancers 

Artist: Umberto Boccioni

Media: Tempera and collage on pasteboard

Dimensions: 50 x 32 cm

Date: 1915

Umberto Boccioni was an Italian artist born in 1882. As a child his parents moved him all around Italy, until eventually settling in Catania Sicily. Umberto traveled to Rome and enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts, there he trained under Giacomo Balla who was a popular Divisionist painter. Umberto later became a major contributor to the Futurist art movement. Though mostly a painter, in 1911 Umberto became interested in sculpture, after being introduced to cubism style of art. More info

"Nothing is absolute in painting. What was truth for the painters of yesterday is but a falsehood today." - Umberto Boccioni

Umberto Boccioni’s The Charge of the Lancers is a very interesting piece. It depicts foot soldiers with bayonets, in their futile attempts to fend of enemy soldiers on horseback. The horses are powerful and dominate the space. The jagged shapes in the collage give a sense of violence and motion. The foot soldiers are destined to be trampled under hooves. This one of the last pieces that Umberto produced. Ironically in the start of the First World War, Umberto joined the army and during training was tossed from a horse and trampled to death.