The University of Kansas

Robert Arneson

United States, born 1930-1992
Forge, 1984
Bronze
The Peter T. Bohan Art Acquisition Fund, 94.37

Art always has played a role in the political and social concerns of artists and their patrons. In the last half of this century, many artists’ works express fears of nuclear and ecological annihilation or call into question traditional power structures.

The Cold War and the threat of nuclear holocaust have dominated much of the last fifty years. The gruesome severed head on Robert Arneson’s Forge communicates Arneson’s perception of the result of nuclear war. At a time when such a war was a concern for everyone, Arneson used his art to force viewers to consider its negative consequences.