Power, Image, and Memory

Abstract

This book examines a wide variety of artistic traditions, showing how art commemorating historical events can shape collective memory, and with it, the identities of social groups and nations. It organizes twelve canonical works of representational art created in a variety of media around themes of commemoration and power. The chapters begin by describing the political and historical context for a work; then move into thick description, paying special attention to narrative techniques and conventions; followed by an analysis of the work’s meaning and the context of its commission; and end with a discussion of the work’s legacy in art history. The chapters argue how makers intended works of art to act as propaganda. The works depict conflicts very recent to the period in which they were produced. They are representations of specific conflicts employing specific techniques intended by their makers to encourage specific ideas about how those events connected to specific political ideologies. The examples chosen for the book are exceptional in how they communicated power or represented the past; many represent the first time a particular technique was employed. This book examines why and how certain technical developments of narrative conventions developed.