From Horrors Past to Horrors Future: Pacifist War Art (1919–1939)

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The strength of this paper is the review of pacifist imagery and the attempt to track changes in strategies.  Some interesting material is assembled to these ends.  However, I have some reservations about the approach to the material and the structure of the argument.

First, the range of evidence is restricted and seems to be derived from secondary sources (no primary sources are given in the bibliography).  Therefore the account of French pacifism lacks detail and nuance.  That Aragon and Breton are mentioned but not Rolland is surprising to say the least.  I am not confident that the French situation has been fully understood and this is important because this needs to be grasped in order to understand the relevant international contexts.  (See the last paragraph of Section 2, p. 3. What is being argued here?  Is the context French or European?)  International contexts are crucial, especially those created by the Comintern, which receive no direct discussion.  Ernst Friedrich's work is not mentioned (despite being published with French text).  Montage techniques were available earlier than the author suggests.

Second, the argument suggests that 1933 and the rise of National Socialism and the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War were turning points.  Yet another case could be made, precisely by reconsidering international contexts.  The Communist press in France was using provocative photographs from 1928 so the dates used here need to be reconsidered.  Non-intervention is mentioned but not really discussed yet this is crucial for redefinitions of pacifism; here the very term is put under pressure and so needs proper analysis.

 

Specific points

p.1 Portraiture is not a 'style'.  Media and genres are referred to here.  Sentence needs rephrasing.

p. 2. 'piece of' work - word missing

'communist theory of revolution' - this is rather general.  A discussion of revolutionary defeatism would be more appropriate.

p. 3. Modernism is not a 'style'.  See above.  In general, technical vocabulary needs to be reviewed.

'ironic of' - word missing

p. 4. Orpen cannot be emblematic of a call to order as he was not a modernist.

p. 5. The Lemoyne (note spelling) is not a fresco.

'front of' - word missing

p. 7.ff. Here moving from 1931 to 1937 rather elides different contexts for maternal images.

p. 16. 'drawn' to - word missing

Is figure 15 misdated?  It is from before the civil war.

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 1 Comments

First, the range of evidence is restricted and seems to be derived from secondary sources (no primary sources are given in the bibliography).  Therefore the account of French pacifism lacks detail and nuance.  That Aragon and Breton are mentioned but not Rolland is surprising to say the least.  I am not confident that the French situation has been fully understood and this is important because this needs to be grasped in order to understand the relevant international contexts.  (See the last paragraph of Section 2, p. 3. What is being argued here?  Is the context French or European?)  International contexts are crucial, especially those created by the Comintern, which receive no direct discussion.  Ernst Friedrich's work is not mentioned (despite being published with French text).  Montage techniques were available earlier than the author suggests.

Discussions of the pacifist situation in France, as well as some of the key figures like Romain Rolland and Gabrielle Duchêne and the organizations they were associated with have been added throughout the paper. The international situation has been discussed as well, particularly in reference to the divides created within the movement by the policies of the Comintern. While these divides are a central part of the political debates taking place within the French pacifist movement during the interwar period, they appear less in the art produced by the organizations presented in this manuscript. Further research and other projects I am currently working on will look more intensely at these divisions. Ernst Friedrich’s work was not mentioned because he was not employed by a French pacifist organization to create the art for their movement, nor was he living and working in Paris (or France) during the interwar period – something I have clarified in outlining the scope of the evidence and arguments of the manuscript. Clarifications surrounding montage techniques and their increased popularity in the interwar period, versus an introduction, has been added.

Information concerning the primary source archives used for this research have also been added to the bibliography.

Second, the argument suggests that 1933 and the rise of National Socialism and the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War were turning points.  Yet another case could be made, precisely by reconsidering international contexts.  The Communist press in France was using provocative photographs from 1928 so the dates used here need to be reconsidered.  Non-intervention is mentioned but not really discussed yet this is crucial for redefinitions of pacifism; here the very term is put under pressure and so needs proper analysis.

The non-intervention v. intervention policies towards the Spanish Civil War of the various factions within the French pacifist movement has been discussed in more detail in the section on the war photography of the era. While the Communist press in France was using provocative images from 1928 onward, in my research I have found that the general trend within the art being produced occurred with the election of Hitler and the exponential rise of National Socialism, which was compounded by the effects of the Great Depression fully hitting France. This turning point became even more drastic after the February 6, 1934 crisis occurred. The period of 1928-1932/4 (from the signing of the Kellogg-Briand Pact to the failure of the Disarmament Conference of 1932-34) appears in pacifist art as a generally hopefully period in which the potential for permanent peace is seemingly attainable.

Specific points

p.1 Portraiture is not a 'style'.  Media and genres are referred to here.  Sentence needs rephrasing.

Edit has been made.

p.2. 'piece of' work - word missing

Edit has been made.

'communist theory of revolution' - this is rather general.  A discussion of revolutionary defeatism would be more appropriate.

A discussion of revolutionary defeatism and its relations to the interwar pacifist ideology has been added.

p. 3. Modernism is not a 'style'.  See above.  In general, technical vocabulary needs to be reviewed.

The technical vocabulary throughout the manuscript has been reviewed, defined better, and detailed within the context of the argument.

'ironic of' - word missing

Edit has been made.

p. 4. Orpen cannot be emblematic of a call to order as he was not a modernist.

The comments have been restructured to discuss Orpen as a bridge between the non-avant garde art of the pre-war period and that which came after the war. The paragraph now includes a brief discussion on the role artists and art played during the war as a tool of official government propaganda, as well as anti-war statements.

p. 5. The Lemoyne (note spelling) is not a fresco.

Spelling of name has been fixed and the correct term of ‘painting’ has been added.

'front of' - word missing

Edit has been made.

p. 7.ff. Here moving from 1931 to 1937 rather elides different contexts for maternal images.

The context of the image has been discussed in greater detail, and the time difference has been addressed. The return of the motif of the faceless, grieving mother, while similar to that of the earlier interwar period, has the added addition of including the body of her dead child in this later image. This inclusion was intended to draw the viewers’ attention to the horrors of the Spanish Civil War, whereas the absence of a dead body in the earlier images was intended to focus on the grief of those left behind.

p.16. 'drawn' to - word missing

Edit has been made.

Is figure 15 misdated?  It is from before the civil war.

The figure was misdated and has been corrected.

Reviewer 2 Report

A brief summary 

The paper traces changes in the visual culture of the peace movement in France between the wars, identifying a shift in strategy, from retrospective memorials to the First World War which used traditional techniques and motifs, to the anticipation of future genocides which used photographic technologies and photomontage to evoke the rhetoric of truth and documentary. The paper contributes a new focus on pacifist motivations (rather than war art more generally), and a model of change of time (rather than describing an isolated moment), to show how visual culture was an important expression of the massive growth of the peace movement between the wars. It argues persuasively that the moment of change in pacifist visual culture came in the 1930s, in response to the Great Depression, rather than the 1920s in response to the First World War

Broad comments 

• My main concern is a lack of specificity about which artists were involved, and which organisations. There are frequent references to ‘pacifist artists’ and ‘pacifist organisations’, but little mention of specific names (exceptions include Orpen p. 4; Masreel p. 7; and the peace organisations named on pp. 7-8). See for example the section between lines 342 and 381, where only Breton and Aragon are mentioned by name, and others simply gestured to as ‘the artists involved with the pacifist movement’. This makes it difficult to gauge the scale and significance of the movement. If the artists are in fact unknown and untraceable, then this should be acknowledged and discussed. Who is in control of operations here? Who has agency? How many artists are involved and what do we know about them? Would further research (even if that is deferred for a future project) make a difference to our understanding of this body of work? Likewise, which different pacifist groups are important here, what were their politics and strategies, and how did they differ from each other if at all? It would greatly help if more names could be named and then described and contextualised, if only briefly.
• More could be done to flag up the originality of the research material and processes (where relevant), as well as the research findings. Has the author uncovered material that was previously neglected and unknown? Is the visual culture of pacifist organisations under-researched in comparison to other evidence of their activities?
• I’d like to know more about the printing and distribution of pacifist visual culture. Is there a literature on this which could be referenced? Is this a subject for further research?
• Throughout the essay, broad historical claims require more specific referencing. To mention one example amongst several: lines 234-5 states that women played a large role in shaping pacifist discourse. What is the evidence for this?
• I recommend that the author checks the following sources, and references them as appropriate:
• James Fox, British Art and the First World War, 1914-1924 (Cambridge, 2015)
• Christopher Green, Art in France 1900-1940 (Yale, 2001) and other publications. Note in particular his analysis of debates surrounding Picasso’s Guernica.
• Grace Brockington, ‘Art Against War’, in Joanna Bourke (ed.), War and Art: A Visual History of Modern Conflict (Reaction, 2017). This may be relevant to the discussion of war photography around line 440

Specific comments 

22: of the First World War until the 1937 exhibition. – what exhibition?

42-47: I’m not sure that the mention of deSouza adds anything to the analysis. It would work just as well without it.

62-63: it’s worth pointing out that the League of Nations was very newly established. Are there any example from the C19th that could be mentioned?

89-91: yes, artists rejected the approach taken by some historians, but did they have more in common with poets and novelists of the day?

144: Artists, - all or a particular sub-section?

148: specify Orpen’s nationality. Could something be said here about the connections between French and British peace movements? The information that French pacifists reproduced Orpen’s painting so extensively is very interesting. How did they access it? What was the exhibition history? – might be worth a footnote.

304: La Patrie Humaine – is this a significant publication? Could you give it some context?

152 Isabey’s Congress of Vienna  - point out that this was a century earlier.

155-58: the reading of Orpen’s painting as an expression of anxiety is strongly stated. Is there any evidence that it was read in this way at the time of its making?

180: clarify that Briand was active during the 1920s

188: why not name the makers of the sculpture in the text?

231-32: it’s worth noting the contrast here with your previous observation about the absence of images of women

243-6: please reference the biographical information about Masereel

259-61: substantiate the claim that women dressed in mourning were disruptive

449: ‘Pacifist artists agreed with Benjamin’ – do you mean the artists themselves, in which case who were they and what did they say? Or do you mean that their practice supports his argument?

485: ‘unlike their predecessors’ – note that war photography has a longer history, being an important part of the visual culture of the Crimean War, American Civil War, Anglo-Boer War.

487-94: the information in this section requires referencing

404-5: reference the claim that fears about science dominated pacifist discussions in the late 1930s

There are numerous typos and grammatical errors, some of which I list below, but the paper should be carefully proofed before publication.

• 34: cause when they were dropped alongside bombs from airplane filled skies: hyphenate ‘airplane filled’
• 38: in the historical narrative presented in the art of French interwar pacifist: should be ‘pacifists’
• 45: particular piece of by the artist: typo
• 45: When applied to the art produced by pacifists during [46] the interwar period, the anxieties of a society: grammatical error
• 115-116: ‘the dislocation, paradoxical, and ironic of the modernist art movements’
• 129: word missing
• 301-2: something wrong with this sentence
• 320: word missing
• 188: word missing
• 218: typo
• 253: should it be 1920s rather than 1930s?
• 320: word missing
• 449: word missing
• 451: word missing
• 484: typo
• 485: ‘Unlike their predecessors… the instantaneous nature of photography’ – grammatical error
• 496-7: the title of the exhibition should be in italics

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 2 Comments

• My main concern is a lack of specificity about which artists were involved, and which organisations. There are frequent references to ‘pacifist artists’ and ‘pacifist organisations’, but little mention of specific names (exceptions include Orpen p. 4; Masreel p. 7; and the peace organisations named on pp. 7-8). See for example the section between lines 342 and 381, where only Breton and Aragon are mentioned by name, and others simply gestured to as ‘the artists involved with the pacifist movement’. This makes it difficult to gauge the scale and significance of the movement. If the artists are in fact unknown and untraceable, then this should be acknowledged and discussed. Who is in control of operations here? Who has agency? How many artists are involved and what do we know about them? Would further research (even if that is deferred for a future project) make a difference to our understanding of this body of work? Likewise, which different pacifist groups are important here, what were their politics and strategies, and how did they differ from each other if at all? It would greatly help if more names could be named and then described and contextualised, if only briefly.

Detail about the artists and organizations involved with the visual culture of the pacifist movement in France throughout the interwar period has been added throughout. The artists who are known to me through my research to date have been discussed in more detail, and a note has been made about the lack of information for other artists/images included. (This will be the focus of a future project, as it required access to archives that are currently closed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic). The politics and strategies of the various organizations have also received more attention, clarifying where they stand within the divisions of the movement and how they reacted to the political developments of the era.

• More could be done to flag up the originality of the research material and processes (where relevant), as well as the research findings. Has the author uncovered material that was previously neglected and unknown? Is the visual culture of pacifist organisations under-researched in comparison to other evidence of their activities?

The originality of the research has been outlined in the beginning sections of the manuscript. It discusses how the literature of the interwar French pacifist movement has primarily focused on the political aspects of the organizations involved, as well as the biographies key figures. The visual culture of the movement has been either ignored entirely or merely used as evidence for these other discussions.

• I’d like to know more about the printing and distribution of pacifist visual culture. Is there a literature on this which could be referenced? Is this a subject for further research?

A brief discussion of the network system of the pacifist organizations in France (from the national headquarters in Paris to the regional hubs) and the way material was distributed has been added. This information is what I was able to infer from meeting notes of the executive committees of the leagues discussed.

• Throughout the essay, broad historical claims require more specific referencing. To mention one example amongst several: lines 234-5 states that women played a large role in shaping pacifist discourse. What is the evidence for this?

The broad historical claims throughout the manuscript have been discussed in greater detail. This point concerning the role of women in the movement has been expanded to include the role women played in their own pacifist organizations, which were some of the only international organizations working for peace throughout the First World War. It also discusses the role women played as educators and how the adopted a policy of moral disarmament during the era.

• I recommend that the author checks the following sources, and references them as appropriate:
• James Fox, British Art and the First World War, 1914-1924(Cambridge, 2015)
• Christopher Green, Art in France1900-1940 (Yale, 2001) and other publications. Note in particular his analysis of debates surrounding Picasso’s Guernica.
• Grace Brockington, ‘Art Against War’, in Joanna Bourke (ed.), War and Art: A Visual History of Modern Conflict(Reaction, 2017). This may be relevant to the discussion of war photography around line 440

I did my best to obtain the material you suggested in light of the continued restrictions placed on obtaining materials due to the COVID-19 outbreak and was able to read Fox and Brockington. I will keep these sources noted for future projects, and hopefully will be able to access Green’s book soon.

Specific comments 

22: of the First World War until the 1937 exhibition. – what exhibition?

Exhibition has been added.

42-47: I’m not sure that the mention of deSouza adds anything to the analysis. It would work just as well without it.

I decided to keep the reference to deSouza, in the hopes that perhaps someone who is completely unfamiliar with how scholars engage with art theory/history will someday read the manuscript, and that they might perhaps need something to frame their reading of the manuscript. While his statement is seemingly an obvious observation, I feel it is better to state the obvious and clarify my views, versus leaving the point open for interpretation.

62-63: it’s worth pointing out that the League of Nations was very newly established. Are there any example from the C19th that could be mentioned?

The 19^th century context of the pacifist movement – the Hague Conferences and the establishment of the Permanent Peace Court have been added, as well as how they linked to the traditional pacifists' goals.

89-91: yes, artists rejected the approach taken by some historians, but did they have more in common with poets and novelists of the day?

A discussion of artists’ relations with poets and novelists, as well as the public’s early, negative perception of war literature has been included to strengthen the argument that art was a better way to spread anti-war messages, especially before the explosion of anti-war literature occurred post-1928.

144: Artists, - all or a particular sub-section?

This point has been clarified, outlining the differences between artists working for the government as propagandists versus those who continued to create anti-war art during the war.

148: specify Orpen’s nationality. Could something be said here about the connections between French and British peace movements? The information that French pacifists reproduced Orpen’s painting so extensively is very interesting. How did they access it? What was the exhibition history? – might be worth a footnote.

A comment has been included discussing the re-connections made between the French and British sections of pre-war pacifist groups, as well as the new connections made by new groups formed after the war, and how the sharing of images was one of the key ways to facilitate this.

304: La Patrie Humaine – is this a significant publication? Could you give it some context?

A brief discussion of the publication and its link to the Ligue internationale des combattants pour la paix has been added. It has been noted that it was one of the most prominent pacifist papers of the period.

152 Isabey’s Congress of Vienna  - point out that this was a century earlier.

Edit has been made.

155-58: the reading of Orpen’s painting as an expression of anxiety is strongly stated. Is there any evidence that it was read in this way at the time of its making?

The expression of anxiety has been discussed in the context of the perceived failure of the Versailles Treaty to bring about an actual peace to the conflict, focusing on the negative reaction many within the pacifist movement had to the inclusion of Article 231 and the reparation payments Germany was forced to make.

180: clarify that Briand was active during the 1920s

Briand’s work in the 1920s on international peace treaties like the Locarno and Kellogg-Briand treaties, as well as his continued push for reconciliation with Germany has been added.

188: why not name the makers of the sculpture in the text?

The names have been added to the text.

231-32: it’s worth noting the contrast here with your previous observation about the absence of images of women

This point has been expanded upon.

243-6: please reference the biographical information about Masereel

A biographical information reference for Masereel has been added.

259-61: substantiate the claim that women dressed in mourning were disruptive

This claim has been discussed in greater detail, focusing on how women working within the pacifist movement politicized their mourning dress and their status of widowhood/ loss of a child to advance the work of their pacifist organizations.

449: ‘Pacifist artists agreed with Benjamin’ – do you mean the artists themselves, in which case who were they and what did they say? Or do you mean that their practice supports his argument?

This point has been clarified, noting that pacifist artists using photography supported his arguments through their style of work, versus the artists actively taking his theories and interpreting them in their works.

485: ‘unlike their predecessors’ – note that war photography has a longer history, being an important part of the visual culture of the Crimean War, American Civil War, Anglo-Boer War.

This point has been clarified to discuss that the difference is between those who were using photography and artists working for pacifists in the earlier period of the discussion, who primarily relied on art techniques like oil painting, engraving, and sketching.

487-94: the information in this section requires referencing

References for the information in this section have been added – both secondary and archival.

404-5: reference the claim that fears about science dominated pacifist discussions in the late 1930s

References for the information in this section have been added. The references refer to the trends I have noted in the archival documents referred to for this project.

94: the information in this section requires referencing

References for the information in this section have been added – both secondary and archival

There are numerous typos and grammatical errors, some of which I list below, but the paper should be carefully proofed before publication.

• 34: cause when they were dropped alongside bombs from airplane filled skies: hyphenate ‘airplane filled’

Edit has been made.

• 38: in the historical narrative presented in the art of French interwar pacifist: should be ‘pacifists’

Edit has been made.

• 45: particular piece of bythe artist: typo

Edit has been made.

• 45: When applied to the art produced by pacifists during [46] the interwar period, the anxieties of a society: grammatical error

Edit has been made.

• 115-116: ‘the dislocation, paradoxical, and ironic of the modernist art movements’

Missing word has been added.

• 129: word missing

Edit has been made.

• 301-2: something wrong with this sentence

Edit has been made.

• 320: word missing

Edit has been made.

• 188: word missing

Edit has been made.

• 218: typo

Edit has been made.

• 253: should it be 1920s rather than 1930s?

Edit has been made.

• 320: word missing

Edit has been made.

• 449: word missing

Edit has been made.

• 451: word missing

Edit has been made.

• 484: typo

Edit has been made.

• 485: ‘Unlike their predecessors… the instantaneous nature of photography’ – grammatical error

Edit has been made.

• 496-7: the title of the exhibition should be in italics

Edit has been made.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The author has gone to some lengths to address my comments (and those of the other reviewer).  I feel that the text has developed in terms of welcome additional detail and some nuancing of the argument.

It could now be published but should be carefully copy-edited to ensure that the additions have not also introduced errors.  This is usually the case and seems to be so here (regarding spacing, punctuation etc.).