Several months ago, I visited the newly christened NMoftheMC. I wrote about it here, and Peter Chen generously posted it, including 18 photos, web site, the World War 2 Database.
Thinking about all our modern technologies now, it’s easy to forget that in the 1940s, the armed services employed hundreds of artists to document operations throughout the world. The pictures here, from Tarawa and Peleliu are two examples, in large form, of “art” that was produced during this time. Not sure about where they were specifically produced, but from the documentary “They Drew Fire,” many of the artists interviewed suggested they walked the same beaches/places, many times under fire, sketched what they could, and then later made larger form works in other places. Amazing.
The Peleliu piece, to me, works okay (check this over at my Flickr page). But the Tarawa painting, moving from light to dark, is striking. Forgive my crappy camera work, too. I do what I can with what I have. And painting is just so big, too. Notice the flamethrower man (far left) moving upright into the fire while the wounded/dead lay on the beach. To me, a painting like this can tell more of a story with its use of color than many actual period photographs. But that’s just me. It’s a different perspective worth studying.
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