"Paths of Glory" by CRW Nevinson

This is an oil on canvas by CRW Nevinson. Completed in 1917, it is a brutal expose of the reality of trench warfare. Nevinson, a soldier himself exposed to the public the savagery of unburied bodies left to rot in the trenches or in the no man's land between. This painting, now housed at the Imperial War Museum in London, was censored during and immediately following the war because of it's brutal commentary on the barbarism of war. The painting's emphasis on humanity seems unique for the era, traditional portraits of WWI focus on the tanks and planes -- killing machines that seemed to replace the human element of war. The painting is done in a style of photographic realism which contributes to the stark disgust experienced by the viewer. This is a painting of slaughter -- a term first applicable during WWI-- many deaths with little gain. It accomplishes it's goal by filling the viewer with a despair and the horror of war.