The face of war and genocide

Abstract

The transformation of war in the twentieth century has had two facets: the industrialization of killing and the obliteration of the distinction between civilian and military targets. Consequently, war and genocide have become braided together in new and appalling ways. Representations of both in the visual arts have changed as well since 1914, when the icon of war was the face of the individual soldier. Over time, war has lost its human face, in part due to the introduction of new weapons and in part due to the disappearance of entire peoples, whose murder was an intentional object of war. It is therefore possible to speak of the effacement of war over the past 100 years, its loss of a human face in the century of total war.