On My Drawing Board: 150 Years Ago this Month: American Families Prepare for War, Part 2

Sunday, July 10, 2011

150 Years Ago this Month: American Families Prepare for War, Part 2

The men who determined to volunteer were faced with a painful moment of separation -- saying goodbye to family left behind. Often we see images created from the point of view of adults, but because of my firm conviction that war and the upheaval brought on by it affects all members of a society, I wanted to create some images that told the story from the point of view of the children. A Promise to Return is the first of those images.

This has been one of the most popular pieces in my Beyond the Battlefield series, and I suspect that is because it conveys a timeless scenario: with our current military involvements we have watched this scene played out countless times in the media and within our own communities and families, as have Americans of many other generations. The clothing changes but the emotional impact does not.

To view my entire body of Civil War artwork, I invite you to visit http://www.CivilWarFineArt.com.

4 comments:

LindaJuly 10, 2011 at 11:47 PM
Excellent painting! Bittersweet... nice work!
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LieslJuly 11, 2011 at 8:06 AM
Beautiful work, you can almost hear them softly speaking to each other.
(I sent you an email with a photo of your piece hanging at the CPSA exhibit in Dallas.)
~ Liesl
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Amy LindenbergerJuly 11, 2011 at 8:53 PM
Thank you, Linda and Liesl, for your kind commments, and for following my blog!
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Claire Beadon CarnellJuly 16, 2011 at 11:06 PM
Such a wonderful piece, Amy!
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What is the "Civil War Chronology Project"?

(formerly called The Civil War 150 Project)

The commemoration of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), which was held in October of 2009, is widely considered to mark the beginning of the Sesquicentennial -- or 150th -- anniversary of the Civil War era. Over the next five years, many states and local communities will be marking the 150th anniversary of battles and important events that occurred in their areas during that era, and state and local commissions are being established to bring attention to those events.

Since I first began developing my series of images inspired by Civil War-era America and its people, my goal has always been to provide a complement to the images of battle scenes and famous generals focused on by most other Civil War artists. My approach has been to get to know these people in their pre-war identities and culture, and try to move through the War era in a chronological fashion, hoping to gain some sense of what they experienced as the War unfolded and engulfed them. My work can essentially be described as homage to life in the midst of war, but it carries a contemporary sensibility in hopes of encouraging viewers to see parallels between their lives and the lives of Americans gone before us.

The Civil War Chronology Project is the title I have given to the ongoing project I have developed for myself, to chronicle the lesser-known people and events of the Civil War era beginning with the publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852 and continuing through the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in April of 1865. I currently have created more than twenty pieces which were inspired by the incidents and people in the years leading up to, and then including, the First Battle of Manassas (also known as First Bull Run). To view the works created prior to 2010, please visit my website, http://www.civilwarfineart.com/, and specifically, my Beyond the Battlefield gallery page. Since helping viewers establish a more personal connection with the people of the Civil War era is a primary goal of mine, I welcome feedback from my audience. Thank you for viewing! ~~Amy V. Lindenberger