Remembrance

I happened to be in Manchester with nothing to do on the afternoon of Remembrance Sunday in the centenary year of the start of World War, Part One. I resisted the tempting offer of a 'free family day' at the Imperial War Museum North, and instead went to Manchester Art Gallery to see The Sensory War 1914-2014, a moving and at times unbearable collection of artists' responses to the impact of war on people's bodies (after first softening myself up with some pre-Raphaelite and other Victorian naughtiness).

Most of the work is from the first world war, some from the second and a few more recent contributions. Most of it is British, but I also noticed French, German, Italian and American work. An outstanding exhibit for me was Heinrich Hoerle’s 'Die Krüppelmappe’ (The Cripple Portfolio), a series of lithographs exploring the impact of disabling injuries in civilian life, in style reminiscent of Georg Grosz. (There's a brief account of them here by Dorothy Rowe.) On a nearby wall were photographs of US Gulf War veterans whose marriages and lives were destroyed by the terrible injuries they suffered, and a particularly horrifying image of an African boy soldier whose facial injuries never received proper medical treatment.

It's a bit naive at my age, but I still find it hard to comprehend the harm that some people are prepared to inflict on other people in pursuit of some 'principle' or other, or spurred on by hatred and rage, or merely to avoid 'losing face' (an ironic term when that may be literally the outcome for someone).

This links, perhaps, with Ceridwen's entry from yesterday.

More from Die Krüppelmappe here .