Close-Helmet for the Field 1594 - 1935

Editor: Here we have a close-helmet for the field, created around 1594 but also dated to 1935 by Martin Schmidt, out of metal. It has such a severe and stoic feeling about it, as if burdened by a medieval history. What do you think when you look at it? Curator: It makes me think about secrets, doesn't it? This cold steel holding unnameable fears and hopes. I see this beautiful dance between the practical and the artistic. It’s a protective object, brutally functional, yes, but ornamented! This little attempt at beauty amidst warfare. Does it suggest a certain...vanity, perhaps? Editor: Vanity! I never thought of it that way, more like a necessity for protection, less about looks. Curator: But those gilded details aren’t strictly necessary, are they? It's almost tragic to consider, someone meticulously decorating their own shell, their soon-to-be coffin, really. Maybe it speaks to a desire to make even war…beautiful? Or maybe it’s about showing status; look at me, even on the battlefield I can afford such finery. Editor: It is odd to consider beauty in war. Almost oxymoronic. Curator: Isn't art all about those little cracks, those contradictions? They’re where the light gets in, and suddenly a helmet is no longer just a helmet, it’s a poem, a scream, a secret whispered across centuries. Editor: I guess that's something I can keep in mind when seeing other works like this. Thanks!