This work was painted in 1957 by French painter Guy de Montlaur. He was a resistance fighter and was at Normandy in 1944. He was also wounded in combat at Walcheren. This painting’s title, Fue (Fire), references his wartime experiences. Montlaur’s paintings after the war offered an outlet to express the trauma of war and his memories of the battles in which he took part. His paintings’ intense colors and bold abstract expressionism convey his strong emotions. In 2019 Montlaur’s works were displayed at the National WWII Museum in a special exhibit titled In Memory of What I Cannot Say.
Even as World War II raged on, officials were already considering the issue of demobilizing the millions of soldiers engaged in the war. With most able-bodied men sent off to fight, it was important that those who survived be reintegrated into society. This was easier said than done, however. Soldiers returned home mentally and physically scarred by the war and struggled to return to normal civilian life. Demobilization also proved to be a logistical and bureaucratic challenge.
Veterans returning home (to both Allied and Axis countries) faced difficulties returning to civilian life. In his article “Rats and Resentment,” historian Robert Dale describes the challenges that Russian soldiers faced when returning to Leningrad to find housing, employment, and receive support, He also shows through letters and accounts from soldiers that many veterans were deeply frustrated by the treatment they received and the corruption they witnessed. These accounts recolor the “myth of the heroic homecoming” by revealing the dissatisfaction that many veterans felt.
American soldiers returning home also had struggles with reintegration. Black U.S. soldiers returned home after the war to find that heroism and patriotic duty made little difference in the way they were treated. “Returning home from overseas service was tough for all veterans, but it was tougher still for black veterans and disabled white veterans and was perhaps toughest of all for disabled black veterans.” (Jefferson, p. 1103) Jefferson’s article, “Enabled Courage,” explores the way that racism negatively affected the treatment of disabled black veterans. Jefferson looks at black veterans such as Henry Williams, who returned home and formed activist groups to protest for concerns of black veterans.
As well as the many physically disabled veterans, there were also high numbers of psychiatric casualties, including many of the soldiers who had sustained physical injuries. Those suffering from combat related mental illness had particular challenges reentering society. Despite the fact that psychiatric ailments had been recognized as legitimate disabilities there was overall little support available, and these disorders were viewed as temporary and fixable. While progress was made in the study of the war’s many psychiatric casualties, there still remained a great deal of stigma surrounding mental illness. In soldiers it was often perceived as weakness or cowardice — particularly within the military. This perception has been difficult to shake. It was not until 1980 that PTSD became an official diagnosis, following its high prevalence in veterans of the Vietnam war. More recent studies within the U.S. Military have found that in many cases soldiers experiencing symptoms of PTSD did not seek out treatment and that those who did experienced discrimination by the military. (Jarvis, p. 113)
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Veterans experiencing discrimination from the military for seeking treatment for their PTSD that was caused by their service to the military in the first place is a massive injustice, and honestly should be something that gets more exposure, as I think most people would agree that its a terrible thing but simply aren’t aware it happens. There’s also the obvious issue of the massive disadvantage black vets had simply for being black, which of course is rooted in a long history of racist sentiments being shared by many Americans. These issues are both difficult to tackle to differing degrees, but I think they are the true problems behind the unideal experiences many veterans had after the war.
I am not usually a huge fan of abstract art, but I found Fue to be fascinating. The mixing of colors seems to suggest overwhelming emotion in his mind that he was struggling to deal with after the war ended. The red suggests that he was experiencing a great deal of anger, I assume toward the Nazis. The experiences he seems to convey are unfortunately very similar to those of veterans returning home. The Soviets were angry with the “rear-line rats” and so many soldiers suffered from what we now call battle fatigue.
One of my favorite genres of art is art made by former soldiers. It is fascinating to see how some veterans use art to express their feelings or memories about war. As you say, “Veterans returning home (to both Allied and Axis countries) faced difficulties returning to civilian life.” Just because the Soviet Union was on the winning side of the war didn’t mean their country or their soldiers got to bask in the glory of victory. With major urban centers like Kiev and Leningrad left in uninhabitable ruins and many smaller villages having suffered the same fate, some Soviet soldiers returning home realized that they had nothing to return to.
I really like your choice of painting. The bold colors do a good job of portraying the battle to recovery from the war. I liked your emphasis on debunking of the heroic homecoming of veterans. I think you did a good job of synthesizing the importance of the phycological toll the war took on veterans and the lack of true recovery.
I found this painting to be an extremely accurate representation of both the beach at Normandy with the use of yellow and blue, while also representing the mind of these veterans as they come home. It is interesting to see the effect that these had on these veterans and the lack of help they received.
I agree with our classmates and really enjoyed the painting you picked. It is frighting to see loss and emotion following the war to accurately and abstractly depicted.
Immediately the first thing that really draws the reader in is your use of the painting as your artifact. This did an excellent job of grabbing the attention of the audience and luring them into your post. Also, I thought you did very well in taking the interpretations of your painting and applying them to the topics and information in your post. Great job!