Orcastra at War

Louis Monza, Orcastra at War, 1943, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.131
Louis Monza, Orcastra at War, 1943, oil on canvas, 2632 in. (65.981.2 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.131

Artwork Details

Title
Orcastra at War
Artist
Date
1943
Dimensions
2632 in. (65.981.2 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure group
  • Performing arts — music — orchestra
  • Allegory — civic — war
  • Portrait male — Roosevelt, Franklin Delano
  • Allegory — other — Molotov, V. M.
Object Number
1986.65.131

Artwork Description

Louis Monza was a passionate pacifist and socialist whose dramatic paintings highlighted the brutality of war. This image shows a grim group of figures huddled together against a backdrop of war-torn buildings. The piano player represents Franklin D. Roosevelt, while the drummer is Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, a key figure in the Bolshevik Revolution and Soviet commissar of foreign affairs in the 1940s (Josephine Gibbs, "Louis Monza, Primitive," Art Digest 18, November 1943, and Lynda Hartigan, Made with Passion, 1990). Monza's painting illustrates the uneasy alliance that brought the Second World War to an end and hints at the events that soon put these players at odds with one another.

Works by this artist (23 items)

Claggett Wilson, Salad--A Cleaned-Up Machine--Gun Nest, Bois de Belleau, ca. 1919, watercolor and pencil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Alice H. Rossin, 1981.163.8
Salad – A Cleaned-Up Machine – Gun Nest, Bois de Belleau
Dateca. 1919
watercolor and pencil on paperboard
Not on view
Claggett Wilson, Bacchus Survivor--In the Ruined Garden of an Old Chateau in the Champagne Country There Remains, Triumphant, the Statue of Bacchus, Chipped and Scarred but Still Laughing as He Squeezes the Stone Grapes into the Stone Cup, ca. 1919, watercolor and pencil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Alice H. Rossin, 1981.163.22
Bacchus Survivor – In the Ruined Garden of an Old Chateau in…
Dateca. 1919
watercolor and pencil on paperboard
Not on view
Claggett Wilson, Early June Morning, Bois de Belleau--Sniper Who Had Been Potted During the Night, ca. 1919, watercolor and pencil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Alice H. Rossin, 1981.163.7
Early June Morning, Bois de Belleau – Sniper Who Had Been…
Dateca. 1919
watercolor and pencil on paperboard
Not on view
Claggett Wilson, Stragglers--French Wounded in the Retreat of Chateau-Thierry, ca. 1919, watercolor and pencil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Alice H. Rossin, 1981.163.3
Stragglers – French Wounded in the Retreat of Chateau-Thierry
Dateca. 1919
watercolor and pencil on paperboard
Not on view

More Artworks from the Collection

Ben Cunningham, Resources of the Soil (Mural Study, Ukiah, California Post Office), ca. 1938, tempera, pencil and watercolor on illustration board, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the General Services Administration, 1974.28.127
Resources of the Soil (Mural Study, Ukiah, California Post…
Dateca. 1938
tempera, pencil and watercolor on illustration board
Not on view
As Nantucket Harbor Looked in the Hey-Day
Dateca. 1959
watercolor, tempera, and pencil on paper
Not on view
William H. Johnson, Seated Female Nude, ca. 1939-1940, recto: watercolor and pencil on paper
verso: watercolor, pencil, and tempera on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.214R-V
Seated Female Nude
Dateca. 1939-1940
recto: watercolor and pencil on paper verso: watercolor, pencil, and tempera on paper
Not on view
William H. Johnson, Houses and Figures, Denmark, ca. 1930-1935, tempera and watercolor with pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.765R-V
Houses and Figures, Denmark
Dateca. 1930-1935
tempera and watercolor with pencil on paper
Not on view