Returning to the Trenches
1916
Christopher Nevinson turns a grim march into a mechanical nightmare in this striking 1916 print. You can almost hear the rhythmic thud of boots as these soldiers, reduced to sharp, angular shards of grey and black, trudge forward in lockstep. Influenced by the jagged energy of Cubism and Futurism, Nevinson—who actually served on the Western Front—depicts the men not as individuals, but as a single, dehumanized machine of war. The bayonets stick up like a jagged forest of steel, emphasizing the relentless, grinding nature of trench warfare that would define a generation.
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