Metamorphosis of Aesthetic Visual Culture, an Aftermath of War

Abstract

Creative brains are kept only by sensitive creatures, and the most empathetic are of those associated with visual arts fields, affected even by a minor stir in their surroundings, which is reflected in their creative endeavours. They sub consciously interpret their time. Unpleasantness of war or situations analogous to war have always left a negative mark on their aesthetic interpretations. History is replete with such examples. But the most stunningly heinous transgressions were exercised by modern mechanisms of war that violated ethics par human perception. The era shattered beliefs of man on humanitarian values. It also caused transformation in the field of aesthetics which is beyond human comprehension. The metamorphosis was so rapid that it brought aesthetics and beauty at antithetical stages, which led the French artist Paul Duchamp to display a urinal as a piece of sculpture in an art exhibition. Hence, weirdness replaced beauty; logical delineations substituted the abstruse, and crafty ousted the artistic, still protected under the umbrella of art. It is labelled as modern, subjective or abstract but not viewed as a repercussion of war trauma. The paper will be exploratory research to probe reasons behind the apparently unreasoned transformations delineated through art. Modern art specimens of post-war era along with those resulted from a few chaotic situations will be analysed to draw conclusions. It will be based on deductive methods of reasoning to scrutinise history, psychology and the field of art in order to comprehend the impact and reactions of war trauma on sensitive souls of artists that led them to transform the entire visual field of aesthetics.