BLAST, World War I, and Tonal Shifts
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===Vortex by Henri Gaudier-Brzeska=== | ===Vortex by Henri Gaudier-Brzeska=== | ||
| + | Henri Gaudier-Brzeska wrote a short article in both issues of ''BLAST'' entitled Vortex. Gaudier-Brzeska was a sculptor primarily, and the article in the first issue was about the history of sculpture. It feels very hopeful, optimistic about humanity in many aspects. He goes over the sculptures of many different civilizations, including Egypt, Greece, and Ming China. In his description of the sculpture of each of these place, he mentions a vortex which inspired their accomplishments. It sounds as if he is saying that, while sculptures have taken many different forms in many different places throughout human history, all of it was inspired by a vortex that has been maturing and becoming more complete over time. Though he talks about sculpture primarily, he is also implying that this vortex has influenced many other forms of art in history. He ends the article with "will and consciousness are our VORTEX." The article seems to be celebrating human accomplishment in sculpture, saying that it has been great but that there are even greater things ahead. | ||
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| + | His article in the second edition of ''BLAST'' was very different. Gaudier-Brzeska was in the French army when he wrote the article, and in fact titled it "Vortex (Written from the Trenches)". Instead of a history of sculpture and descriptions of a mysterious thing called a vortex, he starts off by simply describing his time in the war as a soldier. He says that two months of war have taught him the value of life. He says, essentially that through all the destruction in the world nothing ever changes. He then says that artistic emotions are pointless and that the war is actually a good thing, since it "takes away from the masses number upon numbers of unimportant units." He then briefly mentions that he still agrees with his view in the previous ''BLAST'' about sculpture, and goes on to talk about an experiment he performed by stealing an enemy's rifle. | ||
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| + | There is a massive difference between the two articles. It is very easy to tell that Gaudier-Brzeska's time in the war very much changed his views of the world. He became much more cynical and sounds almost as if he just does not care about anything anymore. This is likely because he experienced so much fighting in the war; he was stationed in a very dangerous part of the war zone and in fact, he actually died in battle around a month before ''BLAST'' 2 was published. One of the most defining differences between the two articles are the intros. The first one starts with "Sculptural energy is the mountain. Sculptural feeling is the appreciation of masses in retaliation. Sculptural ability is the defining of these masses by planes." He starts off with his theory of what powers sculpture. In the second article, he starts off with "The sculptor writes from the French trenches, having been in the firing line since the early in the war. In September he was one of a patrolling party of twelve, seven of his companions fell in the fight over a roadway. In November he was nominated for sergeancy and has been since slightly wounded, but expects to return to the trenches." There is a very obvious difference between the starts of the two articles, and it highlights the difference in the rest of the content as well. | ||
==Stylistic Changes== | ==Stylistic Changes== | ||
