The Two Thousand Yard-Stare: Artwork Analysis
Hello! This was an essay that I wrote for my art history class. Even though this piece of art is known for its copious amounts of memes it was really interesting to research and explore. Enjoy reading!
From the year 1939 to 1945 America was faced with one of the most fatal conflicts in human history World War II, with its unbelievable death toll and plethora of tragedies it also brought forth an all new perspective on the world of art and American culture. The Two Thousand Yard-Stare, painted in 1944, is an oil on canvas painting by muralist, author, and war correspondent, Thomas C. Lea. Who was commissioned by LIFE Magazine to capture a variety of true scenes from the battlefield. The painting is one of many other similarly gruesome paintings and illustrations that Lea captured in his time of observing U.S armed forces fighting in a multitude of locations. The Two Thousand Yard-Stare was formed from the Battle of Peleliu island in Micronesia, where Thomas caught the numbed, fixed gaze of a nameless American Marine in battle. This painting ultimately captures the atrocities of war and begs the question, how much more can our soldiers endure? Through cultural, formal, and iconographic analysis of this artwork, it provides the reality of war and its consequences all through the dark hollow eyes of an unnamed soldier.
Thomas Lea was a frequent painter and muralist who expressed the importance of rural American life and conveyed that belief in his art, often depicting scenes of his hometown El Paso. He was also heavily inspired by the Regionalism movement that came about in the 1930s. The Regionalists focused on representing local subject matter but also brought a sense of American nationalism. Nationalism was soon intensified by World War II in America, as it was not only an era of rationing, shortages, and military drafting but also an era of war culture that bled into all forms of entertainment. Influencing a wide range of genres such as film all the way to comic books. Writers, actors, and artists were all involved in the war effort, yet there was a lack of documentation of what was happening in the war itself. In the summer of 1941 Lea was asked by LIFE Magazine to accompany soldiers in the war and document their happenings through his illustrations and paintings. The result was over 80 different pieces that were created based on the truly horrific images as well as the blossoming victories that Thomas witnessed. Most of America was set on the idea of isolationism from foreign conflicts so when these images were brought to light it was an eye opening experience to the reality of war. In the article World War II Museum Showcases Tom Lea Art a quote from Lea explains how he didn’t approach this project with a certain bias but rather through what he saw, “I did not report hearsay; I did not imagine, or fake, or improvise; I did not cuddle up with personal emotion, moral notion, or political opinion about War with a capital W. I reported in pictures what I saw with my own two eyes, wide open.” (Moore) That’s exactly the kind of theme that’s commonly found in plenty of his other works, World War II contributed greatly to his war art. The true raw emotion portrayed in The Two Thousand Yard-Stare is a main component that had Americans questioning the worthiness of war itself.
The pinnacle of The Two Thousand Yard-Stare is the visual elements that the painting presents. The viewer’s eye immediately gravitates to the main focal point of the soldier staring directly at the viewer with a cold fixed gaze. The soldier contrasts with the background as his palette is exceedingly darker and his gloomy soot-covered face allows the bright whites of his eyes to pierce the viewer like a pair of needles. The proportions of his face aren’t in favor of realism either. His eyes so big that the man almost looks alien-like. In Wolfgang Keiser’s The Grotesque in Art & Literature he defines grotesque art as “Its images most often embody distortions, exaggeration, a fusion of incompatible parts in such a fashion that it confronts us as strange and disordered. As a world turned upside down” (Keiser, 2) The content in this painting was essentially a world turned upside down for the average American and the soldiers' unbelievably big eyes compared to the rest of his body present a certain uncanniness. The colors mostly used in the piece are similar to the colors found in camouflage such as green, brown, black, and gray all of which are shaded to a darker state if not already. Another soldier is shown towards the bottom left of the foreground looking tiredly at his rifle. More soldiers are shown towards the back cleaning a bloody bayonet, seemingly unfazed by the action. All of the soldiers are wearing the same camouflage colors but the artist uses the complementary colors red and green to emphasize the soldier in the focal point. His dark olive drab uniform brings more attention to his face because of the usage of red on his face and body. When the viewer’s eyes can finally travel away from the marine what’s revealed is an almost hellish landscape. Atmospheric perspective is used as some of the burnt and broken trees are hazed out into the background and eventually lead to the vanishing point. The whole format of the painting uses asymmetrical balance to represent action or motion, as this scene does take place mid battle. This idea is reinforced by the fighter jets and the huge war tank which appear to be the cause of this inferno. Similarly vertical lines are used such as the trees standing upright to instill alertness towards what’s going on. An otherwise beautiful island landscape with a bright blue sky and big rocky mountains is covered by gray heavy smoke and a dark war torn battlefield to convey the perilous journey this marine has been through.
This gruesome scene depicted in Lea’s painting only scratches the surface of the understated agony that not just the marine in this painting has gone through but also countless others. The subject of The Two Thousand Yard-Stare is described from LIFE Magazine as “He left the states 31 months ago. He was wounded in his first campaign. He has had tropical diseases. There is no food or water in the hills except what you carry. He half-sleeps at night and gouges Japs out of holes all day. Two thirds of his company has been killed or wounded but he is still standing. So he will return to attack in the morning. How much can a human being endure? ” (LIFE) This narrative reveals the immense pain that the marine is hiding behind his dead set eyes and as a result he’s truly disconnected from the world around him. As horrific as this sounds this is a common occurrence found within soldiers, in the article From shell shock and war neurosis to posttraumatic stress disorder: a history of psychotraumatology psychologists describe the cause of PTSD in marines “Now, psychiatric patients make up by far the largest category in our armed forces ...The main causes are the fright and anxiety brought about by the explosion of enemy shells and mines, and seeing maimed or dead comrades ...The resulting symptoms are states of sudden muteness, deafness ... general tremor, inability to stand or walk, episodes of loss of consciousness, and convulsions.” (Croque) Unfortunately, the studies of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder weren’t fully considered as a clinical complication until the mid 1950s, so it was ultimately swept under the rug. The American forefront could not fully comprehend what they were putting their own military through. The glory of victory shines through the smiles of American citizens but at what cost? Desensitization to war can still be commonly found in the 21st century. A professor from Pennsylvania State University taught a course about the history of the world wars with a team-teaching arrangement. She focused more on the non military aspect of the World Wars and certain specified topics while another professor focused on battlefield strategy and tactics. Students took an interest towards the military aspects taught by the latter professor, yet they were disturbingly dismissive of non military events such as the holocaust. An excerpt from Teaching History: War and the Humanities: A Small Revolution states “Students see the war as a pre choreographed exercise in which heroic champions may fight and fall but neither bleed nor die” (Hirshfield, 71) It’s incredibly easy to see the war for the action, excitement, or the glory of victory. Even other war artists only displayed gallant heroic U.S soldiers, not bloody attacks with dead civilians. That is why The Two-Thousand Yard Stare and other similar works are so vital because it brings U.S citizens face to face with the uncompromising realities of war.
The Two-Thousand Yard Stare by Thomas Lea depicts the frightening scene of a war torn soldier staring at the viewer with a gaze that makes the viewer wonder what he’s been through. The painting is only one of several horrifying pieces that Lea made while he was watching the American military engage in combat. Yet the impact the Two-Thousand Yard Stare had on America as a whole is beyond measurable. The idea that “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable” is the exact idea that Lea portrays within this painting. His work is a foundation of truth in a gallery where marines are either shown as brave soldiers or steely heroes. Through cultural, formal, and iconographic analysis of this artwork, it gives the viewer a new perspective on the reality of war and gives marines suffering from similar experiences the opportunity to be seen.