This 1916 oil on canvas painting, by Jewish pacifist artist Mark Gertler (1891-1939), is the more disturbing the more it is studied. Yet, in it, Gertler has much to say that is challenging and valuable to Christians. Indeed, it ought to disturb, and this was no doubt Gertler’s intention.
Nigel Pocock
Perhaps, Donald Trump might have done well to have contemplated its message before his attack on Iran, and before posting his infamous picture of himself apparently playing the role of Jesus. Mr. Putin, likewise. Other tyrants too, then and now, should stop and ponder. For this picture contains a warning for us all.
The Great War was in its fourth, horrendous year. Thousands upon thousands were sacrificing their lives for a war they scarcely understood. Weren’t they all—after all—just ‘PBIs’ (Poor Bloody Infantry)? Fodder for the sacrifice. A useless act of folly, upon which Paul Nash poured his scorn, “cursing [the generals and politicians] lousy souls”, wanting the war to go on for ever. Then, as now.
The “Merry-go-round” is anything but ‘merry’. Indeed, it is the very opposite. No joy, here. No children on the merry go round. The punters all seem seized by paralysis; their open mouths voiceless, with no speech coming. No cry. For each row on the merry-go-round there is a military official and a bureaucrat, perhaps a government official in the Ministry of War. These persons are accompanied by their backers, almost all female. ‘Enjoying’ the ride. Yet none can get off. The merry–go-round has them in its power; driving these punters on, ceaselessly, soundlessly, with no protest. It is carrying them along, and they have no power over the machine, the machine that facilitates and progresses the war, with thousands dead. The powers sit safely in their offices, directing these deaths, well behind the trenches. Then, as now.
At the time of writing, the Towner Gallery (Eastbourne, UK) are curating Comrades in art: artists against fascism (1933-1943).
As has been well said, a ‘warning from history’.
This is a very telling and timely show.
The AIA (Artists’ International Association) were the main protagonists, pulling together a wide range of ideological positions, all united in their desire to fight (usually non-violently) fascism in all its forms—a theme that we, as Christians, must unite behind.
Tyranny should not be tolerated by anyone. It is especially that such abuse occurs, as famously said, “When good people do nothing”—however small—the present writer included. Then, as now.
In the Merry-go-round, Gertler provides no answer. He merely points to the problem. Paralysis in the face of overwhelming evil. Christians need to respond with an answer; or to otherwise see thousands perish in wars of violence, destruction, and terror. We have a Saviour, who taught us to “love our enemies”, and quite simply asks, (not bullies) us to ‘Follow me’. Let us, as artists, heed this call. Then, as now.
Nigel Pocock (MPhil, Trinity St. David’s), studied first at Salisbury College of Art, then the Universities of Greenwich and Wales.
He is a specialist researcher in Black History and has spent fifteen years excavating in a Moravian burial-ground, where he discovered the gravestone of the Antiguan slave Leonora Carr, and the stories of her compatriots, the Briggs sisters.
His main ongoing work has been researching the Surinamese artist Harriet Maynard (1849-1906) the daughter of a slave and white Anglo-Dutch planter. Nigel has exhibited in the Embankment Gallery (London), and more recently, in the Titanic Centre, Belfast.
He contributed to the Venice Biennale Catalogue for Antigua and has worked with the High Commission of Antigua. He is a member of Forest Hill Community Church, and runs a drop-in with his wife Corinne, herself a graduate of Newton Abbot College of Art, where she studied with Dame Barbara Hepworth.
(Photos: Pixabay)
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