Jasta 34b

When I imagine warfare during WWI, I imagine this painting by Bavarian fighter Rudolph Stark. The emphasis in this painting is on the planes and tanks -- the fighting machines of WWI; not on the men. There are no soldiers depicted in this painting, nor are there images of death and destruction. The version of war depicted in this image is clean and idealistic; it is accented by blue skies and pale fluffy clouds. Even the smoke rising from the bombs dissipates into clear blue skies. This is war without the death and destruction, the kind of war that Rudolph Stark would have viewed from his position behind the gun of a fighter plane. It is this distance from the reality of war that allowed for the most violent and deadly war ever.