Lesson Three

Arnold Trachtman
Peace in Our Time
Acrylic on canvas, 72 x 64
1987-1992

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About the Artist

Arnold Trachtman is a Bostonborn artist who grew up during World War 11 and has strong memories of American anti-Semitism. Utilizing a technique which might be compared with montage in film, Trachtman depicts historical events, such as Neville Chamberlain's "Peace in Our Time" speech after the October 1938 Munich Agreement, and its consequences  -- the production of mounds of bodies and debris from Holocaust victims. Trachtman has also produced pop-art-like paintings about the complicity of German industry in building the death camps and the use of slave labor as the basis for their profits.

Trachtman has said the following about the theme of his work:

The horror that occurred between 1933 and 1945 was created by men. Who were they? What drove them? For whom were the trade unions crushed and and slave labor instituted? Who were these men in suits with carefully manicured hands who freely chose to use slave labor? There was no law that compelled them to do so.

Many manufacturing corporations in Germany participated in this voluntary genocide. I wanted to show the men behind this great engine of genocide: the major industrialist corporations of Germany, such as Thyssen, Krupp, Daimler, Benz, Seimens, to name a few. Both Krupp and I.G. Farben built factories inside concentration camps. Why were they dealt with less severely? Not one of them was executed. They stood in dock with clean hands. Within ten years they were all back in business, helping to create the "Free World."

My work is an attempt to put faces on that period from 1933 to 1945, and to raise some questions. Understanding the epoch of Nazism, economically, politically and socially, is part of the unfinished business of our era. We must penetrate the darkness of our past in order to have a future.

Trachtman resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He received his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and since 1982 he has served as a Professor at the Massachusetts College of Art. His work is held in many public collections, including the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

About the Work

Trachtman's large, colorful works draw instant notice from the viewer. Their high color belies their dark message -- the complicity of German industry and ambitious politicians in the Holocaust. In Peace in Our Time, Trachtman attacks one of the political players of the day Neville Chamberlain, whose Munich Agreement in October of 1938 established the policy of appeasement toward Hitler. Chamberlain famously remarked after this agreement that "peace in our time" had been achieved. The image of the victorious Chamberlain in the upper portion of the painting is tempered by a locomotive below, the socalled "engine of destruction" which was the method by which millions of Jews were displaced from their homes and deported to prison camps. The piles of eyeglasses in the bottom portion of this image refer to the personal possessions that the Nazis routinely stripped from Jews entering camps. They were forced to turn over all of their valuables as well as their shoes and eyeglasses, which were sent to "Aryan" Germans who needed such items. Women were even shorn of their hair, which in many cases was used to stuff mattresses. In another work included in the exhibition, Eastern Tours, Trachtman portrays the CEO's of a major German industrial corporation, I.G. Farben, which produced the deadly gas used to kill millions of Jews in gas chambers. Hitler himself can be viewed in another Trachtman's image on view, Our Most Important Product, which displays Hitler in 1933 in the company of the German president (Hindenberg) at the time of Hitler's succession to power, opposed by haunting images of a crematorium below.

Trachtman's work also brings up the issue of the Nuremberg Trials (1945-48) which tried Nazi leaders, collaborating industrialists, and doctors who performed medical experiments on Jewish prisoners in the concentration camps. Trachtman's Apotheosis of Krupp, on view at the Telfair, depicts that industrialist guarded by African American soldiers at his trial, ironic given that the Nazis promoted "racial purity" based upon an idealized, fair haired, blue-eyed Aryan standard. This painting also depicts two emaciated Jewish concentration camp prisoners below, and images of Krupp's factories above.

Interprative Questions

(About Peace In Our Time)

  1. What do you see in the upper portion of this work? Are there any figures that you recognize? Who is the central character here, and why is he important?
  2. What do you see in the middle portion of this painting? How does the locomotive specifically relate to the experience of Jews during the Holocaust?
  3. Discuss the lower portion of this painting. What do you see here? What does this pile of eyeglasses mean? Where did they come from, and what will be done with them?
  4. Discuss how the three sections of the painting relate directly to one another, beginning at the top with Chamberlain and the Munich Agreement of 1938.
  5. Do you think the artist referred to actual photographs when painting this image? Why or why not? If so, does this make the painting any more or less valid or accurate

(In The Museum: About Eastern Tours)

  1. Note the figures on the upper left of this painting. What sort of men are these? What might they do for a living? How can you tell?
  2. What does the large can in the upper right of the painting represent? How was this product utilized by the Nazis during the Holocaust? How does it relate to the men at the left?
  3. What occupies the bottom half of the painting? What is the meaning of this heap of suitcases? What kinds of names are written on them?
  4. What do you see in the background behind the suitcases? What does this mean? What does this imply is happening? Where did the owners of these suitcases go?   How does this scene relate to the title of the work, Eastern Tours? (Refers to issue of deportation of Jews to concentration camps in Eastern Europe.

(About Our Most Important Product)

  1. Who do we see in the vehicle in the upper portion of the painting? What is happening here? What is the mood like here?
  2. What do we see in the lower portion of the painting? (Crematoria) What does the juxtaposition of these two scenes mean

Art Project Objective

Trachtman incorporates several appropriated images into his paintings. Many of the pictures appear to be documentary photographs taken from newspaper or magazine articles. You will research different current events that are affecting social groups throughout the world. After choosing the event you find critically important, you will create a photo montage similar to Trachtman's work which illustrates the problem and its affect on the people who suffer under it.

Vocabulary

Collage  -- A French term which literally means "glueing" or "sticking," the term is commonly used to refer to a picture made of bits of paper, fabric, or any other material stuck to a surface.

Photo montage -- A collage made up entirely of printed and/or photographed images. These may be juxtaposed to make an overall composition or laid on top of each other to give a new composite image.

Documentary photograph -- A photograph which attempts to "objectively" record a person, setting, or situation. Documentary photography flourished during the 1930's in America, when photographers "documented" people and areas hardhit by the Depression.

Appropriated image -- An image drawn from another source. Artists who practice appropriation borrow images or styles from other artists or works of art, typically to make an artistic or political statement

Materials

Procedure

  1. Look through various magazines and newspapers noting articles on events that affect social groups throughout the world. It could be anything from the war in the former Yugoslavia, religious based violence in Ireland or drive by shootings in America. Consider using the internet in your research.
  2. Pick one situation that you feel is of up most importance. Compile as many images and words that relate to it as possible. Again, sources for these could be magazines, newspapers or the internet. Try to use some pictures that refer indirectly to the event rather than ones that implicitly illustrate it (Trachtman did this with his use of a train and piles of eye glasses).
  3. Neatly cut out the photographs around the shape of the main figure. Trim away any unnecessary space that might take away attention from the overall theme. Arrange your images on a piece of paper or board to make a clear, cohesive statement about the current event. Do not glue anything down. Play with the composition by moving, overlapping and combining images. Cut the pictures if necessary. The addition of words may be desired. Keep these statements short and to the point though. The focal point should be on the photos.
  4. Once you have decided on a final arrangement, glue the images down. Try to use as little glue needed to secure the paper. Small dots near the edge are recommended.
  5. When the glue has dried, use oil pastels to add additional color onto your photo montage. Highlight areas of importance or add words. Avoid outlining your figures in black

Examining Your Work

  1. Describe the current event depicted in your photo montage. Which particular social group is being effected? What prompted your choice?
  2. Describe some of the images used in your work. Why did you choose them? How do they relate to the current event?
  3. You used several different appropriated images to make this photo montage. Do you feel that this type of work took less artistic ability than maybe a painting on the same subject? Why? Is it okay to use someone else's artwork to make your own? Why or why not

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