Images, imagination and impact: war in painting and photography from Vietnam to Afghanistan

Abstract

War is a recurring motif in the visual arts. The link in politics and the arts between culture and conflict is especially important in age of global communications and political participation, in which both the symbols of conflict and the efforts via mass persuasion to counteract the political effects of such symbols have assumed considerable power. In Germany and the United States, the relationship of society to war forms a perennial theme as both societies probe at the tension between conflict and culture. The experience of these two nations is closely linked and yet characterized by contrasts as well as noteworthy similarities. This thesis examines how the artistic depiction of war in artspecifically painting and photographyhas developed in Germany and the United States in the last several decades, using the example of the Vietnam War and NATOs mission in Afghanistan as case studies. The thesis concludes that the images of war significantly influence the discourse and civil-military relations in each society. In their turn, these images of war contribute substantially to the shaping and forming of public opinion and can lead to political change.