See also:   [Pablo Picasso]]
            [Daumier]
           

War

On this page:  {}
               {World War I}
               {Un-Reality Continues in War Effort}
                 

In the superb book on the seige on Paris (1870-1871), 
[John Milner] (also, [Note 2]) has this to say:

   'This is a book of misery, ruins, and blood' [1] is how
   Armand Dayot, Director of Fine Arts, described his 
   publication in 1901 which recorded the events of 1870
   and 1871 in France. The period is brief, barely 316
   days of rapidly shifting political allegiances and 
   events. But this was a period of radical imbalances
   of power in which the whole political spectrum in 
   France was active and in contention: [Royalists], 
   [Imperialists, [Bonapartists, [Republicans, [Communists,
   and [Anarchists fought it out. In addition, France 
   went to war with Prussia providing crises after crises
   from Strasbourg in the east to Paris itself and to many 
   other areas too."  [Op. Cit [2], P.ix (preface)]




[1] A. Dayot, L'Invasion, le Siège, et la Commune, Paris 1871,
    (Paris, 1901), P. 1. (as noted in [2]).

[2] "Art, War, & Revolution in France 1870-1871: Myth, Reportage, and
 Reality", John Milner, ISBN 0.300.08407.2 (New Haven & London, 2000).

  

Un-Reality Continues in War Effort

I'm not sure why this struck me as odd [actually i do, since i have
kids as well, i can well imagine this *being* me], since i'm supposed
to be writing some more notes on Bud Powell, anyway...

From "Quick", published by Laura Gordon as an alternative by 
Dallas Morning News.

BEGIN BLOCK QUOTE

[P. 4]
Civilians Killed by Mistake

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. soldiers fired on a civilian vehicle because they 
                feared it might hold a suicide bomber, killing two 
adults and a child, American officials said. 

The troops fired on teh car because it was moving erratically outside
a U.S. base, said Maj. Steven Warren. "It was one of those regrettable,
tragic incidents."

Dr. Ahmed Fouad at the city mourgue gave a higher toll, saying five
people -- including three children -- died. 

END BLOCK QUOTE

Odd, that number 3 or 5, don't you think? And the bit about "civilians
killed by mistake", you'd think that this sort of thing would have
been going on all along. But, now "all of a sudden" such incidents
are being reported in the news paper. Consider also (on the same page)
the following:

BEGIN BLOCK QUOTE
[P.4]

Cheney denounced war criticism

WASHINGTON -- Vice President Dick Cheney yesterday [Monday, Nov. 28, 2005]
              accused critics of "corrupt and shameless" revisionism in
suggesting the White House misled the nation in a rush to war, the latest
salvo in an increasingly acrimonious debate over pre-war intellegence.

Cheney also denounced proposals for a quick U.S. withdrawal from Iraq as
"a dangerous illusion" and dismissed the failure to find weapons of mass
destruction. "We never had the burden of proof," he said. 

END BLOCK QUOTE

Curiousier and Curiosier said Alice [in Wonderland]. Hmm, let's see
revisionism?  As I recall Colin Powell held up those fuzzy photos in
the United Nations as "proof" that there were weapons of mass destruction.
And it was either Mr. Bush or Mr. Cheney that said "there is no question
of it" [ie, that there were weapons of mass destruction], and something
to the effect that "of that there can be no debate" (not an exact, but
the text recapitulates (not revises negative-time-wise) the memory of
what i (we?) recall as happening).

And if that was given "as proof", then how is it that they did not
have the "burden of proof"?  Perhaps the white rabbit hid the proof
(after the magic mushrooms ate the weapons of mass deception, and
ultimately one must wonder about the Kings Head Wonder Lettuce and
does a pome rheally not qhave to rhyme?  Or was it all just a dream.

No dear, it's no dream: 15_000 American troops are coming home (and
those are the ones that are alive, but injured *physically* (or 
at least injured seriously *emotionally* (it all seemed clear at
the time) [listening to "Impressions" by Coltrane]


 
World War I


One of the fall-outs of WW I was the various ways that people in the
war viewed it as it was going on.

      Like modern artists and intellectuals, Léger embraced 
      the war, believing that it would clean out the cob-webs
      of aristorcratic control and class war-fare that had
      marred the history of modern Europe.     
             [P.163, in "Modern Art: 1851-1929" 
              by Richard R. Brettell, ISBN 0.19.284220.X,
              Oxford, 1999] 


Chronology





Important Works


Guernica