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Wounded 1

16" x 20", oil on wood panel, 2014

This one's another in the huge "Calamity" section of my WWI art project, To the Sound of Trumpets. You can see this painting (and seven others) in person in the window of the awesome bookshop we've got here in Picton called Books & Company. There are three others in the Wounded series.

Of all the terrible things that happen in war (and this one in particular), the thing that always strikes me hardest is the sheer volume of people killed and wounded:

"The total number of military and civilian casualties in World War I was over 37 million. There were over 16 million deaths and 20 million wounded ranking it among the deadliest conflicts in human history."
–source: Wikipedia

(click the Wiki link for a comprehensive breakdown)

Therefore, I chose to focus on the personal costs of fighting any war rather than the purpose for it or any triumphs that may come of it. In fact, one of my proposed titles for this project was Great War Imminent; Casualties Inevitable.




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