History Of The Main Complaint By William Kentridge And...

Artists use their art to reflect the social values of a particular time and place whether it depicts war-torn and grotesque images or beacons of hope for society. Artist Pablo Picasso, William Kentridge and George Gittoes all express their social values not only from a personal perspective but as part of a community, country and world view. This is seen as each artist questions the political views and laws while clearly identifying social values reflected from a point in time in their artworks. Picasso’s â€Å"Guernica† and â€Å"Dove† strongly contrast dark and light tones depicting the effects of war and peace due to the effects of the Spanish Civil War and WW2. William Kentridge’s film, â€Å"History of the Main Complaint† highlights the inequality†¦show more content†¦Close to Picasso s heart, the town was near where Picasso had grown up the large artwork with its size emphasised the tragedies of war and suffering it in the current time and place. As the artwork mourns for the civilians there are social values such as regrets, fear and sadness for the civilians who lost their lives. Picasso represents this through the use of the bull and horse as the horse represents the people being pillaged by the bull. The bull can also be seen to represent the onslaught of fascism and destruction at the time while the strong use of only black, blue and white intensifies the sombre event that occurred as if taunting the audience. The artwork is viewed as a war painting as it offers sharp and jagged shapes with chaotic looking intentions that the civilians are impacted by. Guernica represents the brutality of war itself and the tormented victims of as audiences all over the worked were able to relate to the crushing images that were occurring at the time of WW1 just over and near the beginning of WW2. â€Å"Dove† created in 1949 with the dimensions of 567x760mm was a grab at peace as the world as Picasso had now witnesse d the horror of three wars. The Spanish Civil War, in particular, played a crucial role in Picasso’s outlook on the world and how simply the idea of peace was. Ironically represented in a simple composition the reality seemed farfetched at the time and place yet peace could not be more socially