What is trench Art?

[johnboy]

Is there a strict definition of Trench Art? Is it something made in the trenches or just something made fromi tems found? Looking at some items captioned TrenchArt it seems many items were fashioned when the maker returned home after the war.

[jonbem]

I would guess not a legal definition, just one that is often "loosely" applied by antique sellers and auction houses trying to "add value"? 

 

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/trench-art

Trench Art is a misleading term given today to a wide variety of decorative items, sometimes also functional, produced during or soon after the First World War (though the term is also applied to products of both earlier and more recent wars). They were made in all the countries engaged in combat. Ashtrays, matchbox holders, letter knives, model tanks and planes are typically found. Often they are re-purpose lead bullets, brass recovered from spent charge cases, and copper from shell driving bands, although carved wooden and bone pieces, and embroideries are also seen. However, few examples were fashioned literally in the trenches. Nor were all made by soldiers.

Edited 20 September , 2021 by jonbem

[DavidOwen]

Wiki's take on it https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trench_art

[chaz]

Personally Trench art is done in the trenches, a piece of shell case crudely holed and cut .

then there is the stuff done behind the lines, utilising ASC or engineers brazing facilities and presses or vices. might find soldering out of square.

finally,the commercially produced natives mass produced items that have either been pressed, twisted or swaged into shapes, soldering squarely, uniformly dented etc that the local blacksmith or craftsman did for a bit of money.

there are a few books on the subject but I like to look at originality from the trenches, can you imagine Pte Bloggs banging away in the trenches on a shell case or Cpl Brown carrying an elaborate soldered candle holder or heavy items in an already full backpack.

as for your original post about items returned home, I would think these would have been purchased over there not to be worked on back here. MAny flower pot type shell cases were done for the benefit of visitors travelling over after the war to visit their sons.

[johnboy]

as for your original post about items returned home,  Q Chaz

What I meant was ,small items tpicked up and put in pocets and at end of war taken home.eg. cartridge cases. Taken down the shed and fashioned into something. If made in the 'trenches' I would like to think it was done by only one pair of hands.

[David Filsell]

Mainly, it is not things made in the trenches.

[johnboy]

David,

 

Where do you think they were made?

[David Filsell]

Behind the lines by technical units (RE and army workshops) and by froggie 'entrepreneurs' (although George Bush said there were no entre pre ners once claimed there were  entre pre ners in France.

[johnboy]

Would you still class it as 'trench art' or early recycling?

[David Filsell]

Not strictly either, not that it should restrict your collecting. They remain very collectible momentos of the Great War

 

[johnboy]

i agree that they are collectable. It is just the description I am not sure about

[Gunner Bailey]

On 20/09/2021 at 16:17, chaz said:

Personally Trench art is done in the trenches, a piece of shell case crudely holed and cut .

 

I doubt if any Trench Art was made in the trenches. The noise of hammering would attract attention from the opposing trenches and bring down a salvo of artillery. 

Trench art was mainly a French occupation, done in the back areas to raise money for extra food and wine. Yes, our soldiers did it too. I have some items made by my grandfather who was a sapper with access to raw materials in the trenches and behind, plus workshop facilities. He was not a metal worker and his work is not as good as much of that made by French artisans in uniform.

A lot of 'Trench Art' was made by farmers and others clearing land post war for sale to the tourists who visited the battlefields in the 1920's. 

A handy reference book is 'Trench Art' by Nicholas J Saunders.

[Marco]

Trench art is the destruction of a battlefield artifact into something hideous.

[bif]

Bingo!  Like so much else in life, one man's treasure is another man's garbage.  'Nuf said, methinks.  🤔

[mancpal]

By accident of birth I lean towards the artistic side of life. As with anything  that has an artistic 'bent' opinions vary vastly. I get the point of both the above posts (and generally agree), I've seen some awful "trench art" though have also seen some poignant works of "trench art". The former I think will be relatively common and no doubt priced beyond true value, the latter far more rare. I just wish I could post an imagine of such an item though I don't possess anything that might qualify and still haven't mastered the dark art of technology,

Simon.

P.S. Bif, its years since I complemented your choice of headwear, any chance of you leaving it to me? (trusting of course that I don't go first). It may help cover the 'crop circle'' that has appeared on my crown and prevent further alien attack.

[pudsey63]

Reading this with interest. Does anyone know about ‘trench art’ from other theatres than France? 

[FROGSMILE]

On 02/04/2022 at 11:01, pudsey63 said:

Reading this with interest. Does anyone know about ‘trench art’ from other theatres than France? 

It also existed in the Egyptian and Mesopotamian theatre where Arab bazaars sold all manner of souvenirs formed from empty bullet and shell casings.  Two particularly common and popular examples were letter openers and matchbox covers as these were small and could easily be stowed in a soldier’s kitbag, etc.  The letter opener was often designed with a blade shaped like an old style Persian scimitar (think Ali Baba), regardless of where it was made, and they could just as readily be seen in France.  Also see: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/kikirose9/trench-art/

Edited 10 April , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[pudsey63]

Thank you for that Frogsmile (great name). I’ve picked up some pieces from Mesopotamia and assumed they were most likely ‘souvenirs’ as opposed to made by the soldiers. Is it fair to assume they were of the time as it seems more likely that there was a market for them among the army rather than later?

[FROGSMILE]

7 hours ago, pudsey63 said:

Thank you for that Frogsmile (great name). I’ve picked up some pieces from Mesopotamia and assumed they were most likely ‘souvenirs’ as opposed to made by the soldiers. Is it fair to assume they were of the time as it seems more likely that there was a market for them among the army rather than later?

Yes ‘of the time’ is a great description.  First of all the supply of brass work was largely down to opportunistic thievery from old gun positions, and of course that source dried up once the armies departed.  As with all armies in the field in primitive lands, they attracted hordes of scavengers.  Secondly native (in this case Arab) workshops were entrepreneurial and would make up whatever they thought customers might like.  The products were then transported to market stalls in the great bazaars of places like Alexandria, Cairo and Baghdad, where they attracted the attention of soldiers on day passes and officers perambulating out from the various base headquarters and ports of entry. 

Edited 2 April , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[Gunner Bailey]

The tradition carried on. In North Africa in WW2 Italian POWs made cigarette boxes out of aluminium water bottles and I have a half pint mug made from brass taken off the El Alamein battlefield and engraved with a map of the N. African battlefields.