Hell's Quagmire

It was exactly 100 years ago today that the guns fell silent (for a time) in Europe, ending what had been to that point the bloodiest conflict in the history of humanity.  The death toll from the 'War to End All Wars" would shortly be topped by the next more massive and widespread conflagration.  But World War One still stands alone in testament to the futility and horror of a world devolved by modern conflict.

Which brings us to the subject of this painting, Hell's Quagmire, which I painted for the 1917 - Canada Comes of Age exhibition.

The most astonishing thing about this painting is that it is based on an actual photograph.  I'll never forget the first time I laid eyes on it.  It showed a solitary soldier slogging through an endless moonscape of shell holes and mud.  The ground had arrived at this point because ceaseless shelling had destroyed the ravines and gulleys and other features of the natural landscape that normally channel rain water away.  

The photo that is the basis of "Hell's Quagmire"

The advent of machine guns and barbed wire made World War One a static struggle to begin with.  The thigh-deep mud only made it worse.  The inability of either side to advance meant the same patch of ground bore the brunt of battle for years, creating a relentless self-fueling quagmire.  Nowhere was this effect more pronounced than at the battle of Passchendaele, the setting of this photo.  The mud was so deep it sucked the boots off of soldier's feet.    It took eight stretcher bearers to extract one wounded man from the field.  The wounded and even horses drowned in the shellholes.  Passchendaele's horrors stand uniquely alone in a war already filled with horrors.  When he saw the battlefield for the first time, an aide to Field Marshall Haig reportedly burst into tears, "Dear God...did we really send men to fight in that?"

"Hell's Quagmire" is my modest attempt to convey more than anything the overwhelming futility of the Great War, and the relative insignificance of the humans caught up in it.   The man in this scene, through no fault of his own, found himself in the midst of this appalling morass.  That's on us and our tribalistic nature which seems to condemn us to endless conflict.  As endless as the mud of Flanders 100 years ago.

*Footnote: 

"Hell's Quagmire" is currently looking for a permanent home.  I'd like to donate it to a museum or legion or any such institution that might be interested in putting it on display.  Please feel free to email me at voltageproductions@rogers.com