Lost, but Never Found

Untitled, Bettaman Corbs

Have you ever felt so lost and never found before? I'm sure you have had that feeling at least once in your life. Well, towards the end of the belle époque period in France and well after WWI the French became lost and not found also known as the Lost Generation.

 

It's hard to imagine what the French went through. Just imagine you just came home from treacherous war where many people had their life harshly taken away from them. Where many people lost limbs and given senses. And after such a sight, you return home just to find the majority of it destroyed. On top of that, half of your family is missing or dead. Wow, what a sight right?

Untitled, Harry

 

The experiences of WWI led to a well collective trauma that was shared with many European countries and even America (not that we  aren't lost already as of today). Everyone from everywhere was feeling lost, but where they ever found. What healed this oh so lost generation?

 

America's New Lost Generation, Gordon Duff

 

Just to see an example of being lost, I find it the perfect time to show an example of recent America being "lost" just to get you an even bigger picture of overall the Lost Generation.

 So now that you have a bigger picture of the lost ones back then, try now to imagine those same lost ones making art. Do have an idea of what that art would look like? Let me show you some examples.





Untitled, Tom McGuinness

McGuinness was a minor yet talented artist. He wanted to communicate with those around him. As you can see McGuinness uses a lot of dark colors; it was a dark period for many. The subject of the painting is a man and a woman who look very gloomy. You will also notice all the ruin around the people. I admire that McGuinness uses red since the color itself is known for catching the audience's attention.



 Untitled, Christian Guemy

Here's another idea of what the Lost Generation painted like. Does this style remind you of someone? This painting seems as if it were inspired by Pablo Picasso. The subject would be classified as human, but where are the arms? A little rebellious if you were to ask me. Look at the colors that are used above. Not as gloomy as the first painting I showed you, but this wouldn't be known as upbeat and happy either.

After WWI, the Lost Generation then experienced Modernism where mainly North America and Europe changed tradition to "Make it New". The term "New" can be interpreted as trying and experiencing undocumented things, even if they were under a ludicrous category. You might be wondering, well when do things brighten up? That's an excellent question that I'm not too aware of. But I do know that eventually Jazz was born in contrast to classical. Another way to look at the Lost Generation is that their mistakes from Modernism and overall are outcomes we can now avoid. Eventually the lost Generation was found but will never be forgotten.

Alaze