Anti-American Art: Bridge of Cries

This spectacular panoramic painting is another from North Korea's Sinchon Museum of American War Atrocities. The museum documents violence committed against North Korean civilians in Sinchon County between the time that American forces pushed back the North Korean advance before the entry of China into the Korean war. This one shows the Massacre at Soktang Bridge. From the description at the Museum: "Over 2,000 people were killed on the short Soktang Bridge between mid-October and late November [1950]. The aggressors were on strict guard at the approach to the bridge. They captured all who tried to cross it and cut off their heads with swords, bayoneted them or shot them to death, drowning them in the river. They dragged people from other villages to the bridge and drowned them with bayonets. The river was dyed with blood and filled with dead bodies....The Korean people never forget the brutal atrocities committed by the US imperialists and are full of a firm determination to revenge upon them a hundred and thousand fold if they invade Korea again." The DPRK claims "the yankees massacred 35,383 innocent Koreans, or a quarter of the population of Sinchon in 52 days of their occupation of the place."

(Photo snagged from Ray Cunningham's flickr, promoted on the Communist Nation blog. Check out his flickr page for many more 2009 photos from the Sinchon Museum. Click on the image above to see this incredible picture larger.)

Anti-Americana: Picasso's "Other" Massacre Memorial

Pablo Picasso's "Massacre in Korea," 1951

Mention Spanish artist Pablo Picasso in the context of political art and everybody thinks of "Guernica," right? His brilliant, massive canvas memorializing the bombing of the civilians of Guernica during the Spanish civil war by Nationalist forces is justifiably famous. Its haunting, angularly abstract imagery depicts the cruel murderous chaotic intensity of a bombed village in ways that are immediately affecting and unforgettable. "Guernica" is a painting that is rightfully taught to students (at least it was when I was in school), and rightfully holds a central position in the annals of 20th-century political art.

Turns out there is another work by Picasso that is not so widely taught or recognized, hanging in the Picasso museum in Paris. It's called "Massacre in Korea," dates from 1951, and depicts the massacre of Korean civilians at Sinchon by American forces early in what is misleadingly called in the United States "the Korean War."

I confess to having seen photographs of this painting before, but never questioned its subject matter until I read its title. I suspect that's no accident. Although it's acknowledged that Picasso was a leftist for much of his life, it's obvious that Picasso's truth-telling about the uncomfortable comparison between the murderous forces of Spanish fascism and US imperialism is anathema to popular art critics. How coldly hypocritical that this painting brilliantly depicting the murder of civilians by a robotized, dehumanized military machine would be quietly ignored because it runs counter to the official myths about what US imperialism was up to in Korea.

I've written repeatedly that North Korea's government is hardly the model of an egalitarian, forward-thinking socialist society. But whenever you hear the DPRK demonized on American TV, or read some fearful screed about the threat posed by the North Korean nuclear program, remember this painting. Remember who did what to whom. Guernica, Sinchon: Exactly the same things. Don't be fooled by the whining of bullies.

Anti-American Art: Babykillers

Another gruesome painting from a museum in North Korea: US GIs shovel dirt over a mass grave of massacred Korean civilians while a still-living baby clutches its mother's scarf. One massacre of South Korean civilians at No Gun Ri in 1950 came to light about ten years ago; hundreds of children, women and men were killed. This and a few other paintings I'll be showing are from the "US War Crimes Museum" in Sinchon, DPRK.

I heard a fascinating report on NPR's program "On the media" in the wake of that Republican congressman yelling out "Babykiller!" during the recent healthcare reform debate. It seems that "Babykiller" has a long history of being one of those sensational accusations that always gets attention. The radio program analyzed several historical uses of the term, including, most fascinating to me, how the term "babykiller" was flung at Saddam Hussein back before the first Gulf War. It plays a tearful excerpt from an alleged nurse recounting how the Iraqis, upon occupying Kuwait, heartlessly threw babies out of incubators so they could take the incubators back to Iraq for spare parts. It turns out the weeping nurse was a shill, a member of the Kuwaiti royal family making up atrocity stories out of whole cloth to gain Western sympathy. A fascinating segment worth a listen. I'm not saying US forces in Korea didn't kill any babies, sadly they surely did. Just sayin', hey, now that's effective propaganda.

Anti-American Art: Another War On Civilians

Surrounded by the devastation of war, American soldiers carry off a bound Korean woman civilian while her relatives cry out, in another painting from the Museum of American War Crimes in Sinchon, North Korea. I'm guessing this ends badly; and it looks like it must refer to the arrest of a specific individual during the war.

I was just listening to a report on the radio about the "attempts" of the US military to "limit" civilian casualties in Afghanistan, which struck me as sadly ironic. Maybe they should try not shooting at people. But hey, it's war, right? It's not like these are American civilians being killed! Disgusting.

Anti-American Art: Witness to Atrocity

This is a huge mosaic on the outside wall of the Sinchon Museum of American War Crimes in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. It shows a wounded elderly Korean woman in resolute defiance above a tableau of American solders shooting down North Korean civilians in a ditch. Inside the museum are a number of the posters that have been featured on this blog, along with displays of photographs, torture equipment, and other relics of the war crimes alleged to have been committed by the U.S. during its march northward in the first year of the Korean war.

Anti-American Art: More Babykillers

Another gory painting from the Sinchon Museum on American War Crimes in North Korea: American GIs apparently prepare to execute a small child after dispatching her father. The face of the GI in the center is positively mirthful. It's interesting to me to compare this North Korean propaganda to Chinese propaganda. The "enemy" in Chinese propaganda is dehumanized through its absence, and the "good guys" are always shown on the winning side, if not triumphant and least resolute. Korean propaganda seems to specialize in portrayals of the "bad guys" as either simpering weak-looking caricatures or brutal strong-looking monsters; the "good guys" are often shown as victims.

Anti-American Art: Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Dogs of War

Sadistic American soldiers sic their dogs on a bloodied crowd of unarmed Korean civilians in another painting from the Sinchon American War Crimes Museum in North Korea.

According to the US War Dogs Association (!): "Before the outbreak of hostilities in Korea the Army was using dogs in Seoul for sentry duty around warehouses and storage areas. More than one hundred dogs were stationed there and their work proved extremely beneficial in reducing theft and pilferage. One regimental commander remarked that after using a dog for a while patrols did not want to go out without them." The USWDA does not mention if the dogs were used aggressively against civilians.

Anti-American Art: Shave and a Haircut

These laughing GIs are doing something unspeakable to a bound Korean prisoner. This and a few other paintings I'll be showing are from the "US War Crimes Museum" in Sinchon, DPRK. They depict scenes from the Korean war but I don't know when the paintings date from. The museum remains today a de rigeur tourist stop for foreign visitors to the world's most isolated state. The Korean War of 1950-1953, still technically unresolved, seems to have left some deep psychic wounds on that nation, perhaps as well it should. Korea was the first nation to fall victim to Japanese expansionism: it was occupied by Japan from 1905 to 1945. It became the first hot conflict in the cold war between the two post-war superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviets were not directly involved in the fighting, unlike their then-allies in the new People's Republic of China who sent hundreds of thouands of troops to drive out American and United Nations forces. It was a brutal war (my late uncle Quentin fought in it) which neither side was able to decisively win.

The torture committed by US forces in the aftermath of its invasion of Iraq puts this depiction of torture in a fresh light.

Anti-American Art: Anti-imperialist Torture Porn

Yes that does seem to be a fiendish GI driving a spike into a Korean woman's head with an axe. It's another in the gruesome series of torture paintings at the Museum of American War Crimes in Sinchon, North Korea. I'm not sure what the piece of paper being nailed to this poor woman is. It certainly makes Abu Ghraib look like a fraternity prank. I wonder what the truth is behind these depictions.

Anti-American Art: Imperialist-style Exorcism?

A bizarre one from the Sinchon museum on US War Crimes in North Korea: looking positively demonic an American army chaplain and doctor conspire to abuse an innocent Korean child, crushing it to the ground in a puddle of gore. The expression of wild-eyed glee shown by the torturers seems to cross the line into racial caricature. This is the first time I've seen Christianity singled out in this kind of propaganda.