Military Review English Edition May-June 2016 | Page 20

If the energy, the friction, and the chaos of war
were illustrated in the latter
style, if kinetic energy were
a frenetic explosion of
colors and angles, then how
would potential energy be
painted? Would it be illustrated through the absence
of colors and objects, or
would it look like something
else? How would an artist’s
cultural perspective influence ways of representing
potential energy in a scene
of war, or potential energy
in any kind of scene? How
might understanding cultural perspectives in art reveal
their influence in ways of
conducting warfare?

The West Paints
Like It Fights

(Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

The precepts of design in
visual art and the art of war
overlap. For example, the military concept of a center
of gravity relates to the artistic concept of emphasis.1 If
a center of gravity is “the hub of all power and movement,” then a visual artwork’s center of gravity, or focal
point, is the subject matter receiving emphasis.2 For instance, in Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (see page 19),
the subject’s smile is the most important aspect of the
composition—the smile is the work’s center of gravity.
In Rembrandt’s The Return of the Prodigal Son (see
page 20), the son’s head in his father’s chest is the center
of gravity. All faces and gazes point to a single hub in the
composition, a hub that gives the composition power.
Without the smile or the paternal embrace, neither the
Mona Lisa nor the Prodigal Son would emphasize any
subject. The very concept of emphasis, that one aspect
of a picture is more important than all others, reinforces
the idea that a picture can have a center of gravity.
As gravity is a force exerted on objects to pull
them in a certain direction, the weights of obj ects
have certain relationships to the center of gravity, and the center of gravity helps determine their

Dynamism of a Soccer Player (1913), oil on canvas, by Umberto Boccioni.

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relationships to each other. Objects in visual art
have a visual weight, and the weight of the objects
should balance each other, symmetrically or asymmetrically.3 While some may think of asymmetry
as the absence of balance, in fact it encompasses
all methods of balance that are not symmetrical.
The Mona Lisa is symmetrically balanced. Her face
and her stance balance in the composition so that
nothing is disproportional. In contrast, Vincent van
Gogh’s The Starry Night (see page 21), demonstrates
asymmetrical balance. On the left, it shows several
stars and a prominent cypress tree. These are offset
by the disproportionately large moon and the town
on the right. Similarly, defense strategists refer to
symmetry and asymmetry to describe how enemies
counter each other.

The West Fights Like It Paints
U.S. Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster quipped
about the Iraqi army in the First Gulf War, “there
are two ways to fight the United States military:
May-June 2016  MILITARY REVIEW