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Strictly speaking, trench art is a phrase that describes folk art created by soldiers who were stuck in the trenches during World War I. But trench art as a more broadly defined genre includes all sorts of art objects made during numerous military conflicts going back to the early 1800s, including items produced by prisoners of war.

Leaving aside the question of era, there are several generally accepted categories of tren...

By World War I, prisoners on both sides of that struggle were engraving and carving everything from spent shell casings to soup bones, transforming them into poignant mementos and useful historical records of the war to end all wars. Some pieces are particular to certain battle zones. For example, Turkish prisoners were known for their beaded snakes.

Those soldiers who did not have the time or tools to engrave spent artillery shells in the trenches often brought them home, where they would be embossed, fluted, and flared. Engravings on canteens and mess kits were probably done in the field, as were paintings on helmets.

Other examples of trench art include letter openers and knives made from bullets and shells; presentation plates hammered and engraved from flattened casings; lighters formed out of enemy belt buckles; and inkwells carefully crafted from fuse caps.

Soldiers recovering from their wounds also made trench art, usually in the form of embroidered badges and belts. Similar pieces made by wives and girlfriends waiting for their loved ones to return home are also considered trench art.

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Recent News: Trench Art

Source: Google News

Trench art features in new WW1 exhibition
University of Bristol, May 23rd

Research by Bristol archaeologist Dr Nicholas Saunders into the trench art made by soldiers in the First World War has helped to inform a major new exhibition at the Pompidou Centre in Metz which focuses on one year of that conflict...Read more

Welcome to the Smithsonian​'s Atomic Weapons Museum
io9, May 17th

A previous temporary exhibit centered on "Trench Art" — art created by soldiers during long periods of downtime between skirmishes in World War I. These intricately crafted souvenirs created for loved ones back home consists of engraved grenades and...Read more

SD 'gatherer' fills barns with history
Tri-State Neighbor, May 16th

Trench art from World War I that took Lacey 20 years to find. It is shell casings with artwork on them made by soldiers who were dying in trenches in Germany and France and amused themselves by doing the artwork. Lacey found the art in Phoenix after a...Read more

Pawn Shops Proliferating
LoanSafe, May 14th

Some of them are “trench art” – large-caliber ammunition modified into lighters. Others are small bottles, little sculptures and even model cars with a lighter incorporated into them. “I researched for three weeks, based on pictures,” David Zinn said,...Read more

See second-generation Cord, Austin cars at Glenn Pray Collection exhibit
Tulsa World, May 6th

The exhibit, which will open to the public Thursday, in time for Broken Arrow's annual Rooster Days celebration, will include such items as scale-model remote control airplanes, antique gas pumps, old-timey radios and examples of "trench art" - pieces...Read more

Pablo Picasso, Stage curtain for the ballet Parade, 1917. Tempera on canvas ...
E-Flux, May 3rd

Alongside masters such as Brancusi, Dix, Duchamp, Kandinsky, Matisse, Monet, or Nevinson, were amateur artists who felt the need to respond to the trials of war through creative expression such as Trench art, examples of which are a high point of the...Read more

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