A-Level: War—Memorials

videos + essays

Maya Lin, Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Maya Lin, Vietnam Veterans Memorial

A powerful accumulation of names is inscribed on slabs of reflective stone that cuts into the earth on the Mall.

Claes Oldenburg, <em>Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks</em>
Claes Oldenburg, Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks

This sculpture, installed on the Yale campus during Vietnam War protests, was never meant to be permanent.

Shrady and Casey, <em>Ulysses S. Grant Memorial</em>
Shrady and Casey, Ulysses S. Grant Memorial

Shrady’s sneaky self-portrait within this sculpture took on tragic connotations after the monument claimed his life.

François Rude, <em>La Marseillaise</em>
François Rude, La Marseillaise

Royal ambivalence? Rude’s Arc de Triomphe sculpture had a revolutionary message, but the endorsement of the king.