Dear Alison:
This seems like noble
undertaking. And since it’s a question which might interest our
colleagues, I’m submitting this to the List Serve as well.
It's not
clear from your e-mail whether you are interested in more recent veterans of
wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq or even Korea. I think you can pretty
much assume that most artists of draft age at the outset of Second World War
either served as draftees or enlisted. This would be fairly easy to
determine by considering the age of American artists in your collection during
the years 1942-1945, and then checking their biographies. Of course there
were quite a few who also served as war artists, and there is a considerable
literature on that subject for both the World Wars. To make a list of all
artists who served but are not in your collection would be a much vaster project
than what I've suggested. That too would be a noble undertaking but
probably beyond the scope of the most ambitious scholar.
I assume you are primarily
interested in the mid-twentieth century and later, though is a good deal of
literature in combat artists in the First World War. I will direct you to
some material on World War Two
For the years 1942-1945, there were
exhibitions in the war years of artists serving in the armed forces, and there
were even a few exhibitions strictly by veterans after the war ended, There were
also several publications during the war devoted to art by soldiers; notably
Crane, Aimée, editor, G.I. Sketch Book
(1944); her
Marines at War (1943); and her Art in the Armed Forces, Pictured by Men in
Action (1944). Crane's books emphasize the art created by those in uniform
not commissioned as combat artists.
For official war artists, see, for example:
Chrysler Corporation. Significant War Scenes by
Battlefront Artists
MacKenzie,
DeWitt. Men Without Guns,. 1945 (paintings and drawings by twelve commissioned artists honoring
the contributions of the Medical Corps in World War II),
The Abbott Collection: Paintings
of Naval Aviation (1944)
Baldwin, Hanson W. The Navy
at War: Paintings and Drawings by Combat Artists (1943)
Also, perusing the art magazines
of the period, notably Art Digest and Art News will yield a great deal on
artists serving in uniform, and can be quite fun. .
And then of course there were many
veterans who started art school after the war under the GI bill. This
number would exceed the number of those who worked as combat artists during the
war itself, or who like those in Crane's books, were not yet professional.
It's an interesting
subject, but I think it best and more manageable to work from your collection
outwards, rather than from what's out there to determine any
interconnections. These are just some thoughts on the Second World War,
which produced so many veterans. I would guess that there are not many
veterans of the more recent wars in most museum collections, since most who
served were not draftees except those from the Vietnam war.
Raymond Smith
R.W. Smith Bookseller
New Haven
**********************
Dear Collective Wisdom,
We are looking to compile a list of artists in our
collection who are veterans. As this isn’t something we capture in our
documentary info on our objects, I’m looking to gather a list of artists who
are/were veterans and compare against artists in our collection. I was
wondering if anyone has ever worked on anything like this and could share names
or has any recommendations of resources that might highlight artist
veterans.
Thanks!!
-Alison
Alison L.
Huftalen, M.A., M.L.S.
Head Librarian
Toledo Museum of Art
[log in to unmask]
419-255-8000 x7386
http://www.toledomuseum.org/learn/library/
