“The reason you need art in wartime,” Thomas Jefferson wrote, “is because history cannot exist without the discipline of imagination.”
While art doesn’t seem like something directly influential in how a war will turn out, it is involved in many prospects of it. Art can be a cry to arms, it can reflect the creator’s perspectives of the war, and suffers along with the people involved.
With the war in Ukraine, art has also suffered from constant shelling. In the article, “The Role of Art in a Time of War,” a monument of Taras Sevchenko, a Ukrainian poet in Borodianka, one of Ukraine’s cities, was damaged by Russian forces. Another picture in an article published in The Guardian deciphers the workshop of Arkhip Kuindzhi, a Russian artist, destroyed after shelling by separatists in Mariupol. The airstrike in the city exposed the paintings to the elements, which further damages them. A selection reveals that Russian weapons destroyed around a hundred and ten monuments, and two-hundred-fifty museums and institutes in Ukraine were severely damaged or even destroyed since the start of the war.
Russian troops were suspected to have stolen around two thousand pieces of artwork.
Among the stolen artifacts was a Scythian gold helmet.
Putin believes that the Scythian gold helmet plays an extremely important part in Ukraine’s cultural identity, and that is why he wants it for Russia, The Guardian claims. “Autocratic leaders seizing art as a means to rewriting a nation’s cultural history is nothing new,” it stated.
A New York Times report on the heist described the taking of the artifact as a white-dressed expert carefully taking the helmet, accompanied by a band of armed Russian soldiers. From this, it is easy to see that art influences culture, and wars are, in a way, cultures trying to expand themselves and demolish others.
“The collection is priceless,” said Leila Ibrahimova, the director of the museum that displayed the Scythian gold. The troops took one-hundred ninety-eight gold items, like ornaments, weapons, plates, and coins. “Many of the gold artifacts were given to the Scythians by the Greeks,” Ibrahimova added.
“This is not a war. It is destroying our life, our nature, our culture, our industry, everything.” Oleksandr Symonenko, a Scythian specialist of Ukraine’s Archaeology Society, said. “This is a crime.”
Artifacts are more powerful than we think they are. During wars like Russia v. Ukraine, strong cultural symbols such as the Scythian gold helmet are sought after by either side. And this, dear readers, is art in combat.
While art doesn’t seem like something directly influential in how a war will turn out, it is involved in many prospects of it. Art can be a cry to arms, it can reflect the creator’s perspectives of the war, and suffers along with the people involved.
With the war in Ukraine, art has also suffered from constant shelling. In the article, “The Role of Art in a Time of War,” a monument of Taras Sevchenko, a Ukrainian poet in Borodianka, one of Ukraine’s cities, was damaged by Russian forces. Another picture in an article published in The Guardian deciphers the workshop of Arkhip Kuindzhi, a Russian artist, destroyed after shelling by separatists in Mariupol. The airstrike in the city exposed the paintings to the elements, which further damages them. A selection reveals that Russian weapons destroyed around a hundred and ten monuments, and two-hundred-fifty museums and institutes in Ukraine were severely damaged or even destroyed since the start of the war.
Russian troops were suspected to have stolen around two thousand pieces of artwork.
Among the stolen artifacts was a Scythian gold helmet.
Putin believes that the Scythian gold helmet plays an extremely important part in Ukraine’s cultural identity, and that is why he wants it for Russia, The Guardian claims. “Autocratic leaders seizing art as a means to rewriting a nation’s cultural history is nothing new,” it stated.
A New York Times report on the heist described the taking of the artifact as a white-dressed expert carefully taking the helmet, accompanied by a band of armed Russian soldiers. From this, it is easy to see that art influences culture, and wars are, in a way, cultures trying to expand themselves and demolish others.
“The collection is priceless,” said Leila Ibrahimova, the director of the museum that displayed the Scythian gold. The troops took one-hundred ninety-eight gold items, like ornaments, weapons, plates, and coins. “Many of the gold artifacts were given to the Scythians by the Greeks,” Ibrahimova added.
“This is not a war. It is destroying our life, our nature, our culture, our industry, everything.” Oleksandr Symonenko, a Scythian specialist of Ukraine’s Archaeology Society, said. “This is a crime.”
Artifacts are more powerful than we think they are. During wars like Russia v. Ukraine, strong cultural symbols such as the Scythian gold helmet are sought after by either side. And this, dear readers, is art in combat.
