The Herbert F. Johnson Museum at Cornell University has officially opened the exhibit on the history of wary with "The War to End All Wars: Artists and World War I." It showcases many art forms and objects.
Ithaca Journal reported World War I was the culmination that led to a series of events that sparked to life by the shooting of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914. Woodrow Wilson led the United States into the war in 1917 and it lasted until 1918.
The Johnson Museum exhibit opens with a map and aerial photographs of trenches and a poem written by Wilfred Owen, who died in 1917. The exhibit also revealed dramatic war graphic posters that called for soldiers, for food to feed France and Belgium and the enemy.
There were large posters of the women of France women served as nurses, resistant fighters and spies. The poster was sponsored by the YWCA that urged the public to buy war bonds. At that time posters were potent advertisements for the war effort.
In one of the exhibit it showed Serbia as an ally and featured a poem by George Trakl (1887-1914) that said "The black-red tidal wave of onslaught." The display allowed people to see the urgency and irony of the war and its consequences.
There were two moving images of a blind soldier who was seated with a begging box in hand created by Otto Dix. Beside it was an ironic portrayal of men who suffered wounds riding bicycles, two have only one leg and the other legless, using his hands on the pedals.
More maps, posters, photos taken from airplanes, and poems were showcased to tell the story of the war and capture the era. The exhibit was more about the arts fighting the war. It contained iconic images by famous artists such as George Grosz and Kathe Kollwitz, and American James Montgomery Flagg.
Admission is free at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, at Cornell University. They open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.
