i was assigned to combat art gallery, hqmc, in arlington, virginia, during the late 60s. my job there required me to catalog and document each work of art that arrived from viet nam, provided by scores of both marine and civilian artists.
i soon became friends with len dermott, jim butcher, mike leahy, jim dyer and jim fairfax.
the two men who ran the operation were colonel henri and colonel rogers.
corporal butcher gave me an art lesson that i found useful, while captain dermott encouraged me to enroll in a pencil-and-watercolor art class which i attended in downtown d.c. during the summer.
major leahy and captain dyer seemed to be good friends; leahy always laughed at everything while captain dyer kept an intent and serious look on his face.
henry casselli showed up in our shop one day, after returning from viet nam and on his way to a future assignment. i always thought of him and phillip yaco as competing contemporaries -- both amazed me with their talent.
jim fairfax sent us a 30x40 acrylic illustration of a marine and a young vietnamese girl who were seated together along a jungle path. the man was portrayed as offering the child a drink from his canteen. his unbuttoned shirt exposed a medallion which on hung from a chain around his neck that caused trouble for our bosses.
because it resembled a backward swastika, the painting was never exhibited. jim claimed it to be an authentic apache token of some sort, and acted awfully upset after being told that his work had been banned from public viewing.
these are just a few of the memories i have of marine corps combat art -- i am sure you have many you could tell, too, and would love to hear them.
I am a fine artist and illustrator in the Classical Realist school, inspired by the masters of art history as I sketch and paint the world around me.
"The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day.”
― Steven Pressfield
5 comments:
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 11/18/2009 News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front.
Great as always. The readers are especially interesting. I like your "light" in these.
These paintings feel like a photo documentary!! Great work!
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Bathmate
i was assigned to combat art gallery, hqmc, in arlington, virginia, during the late 60s. my job there required me to catalog and document each work of art that arrived from viet nam, provided by scores of both marine and civilian artists.
i soon became friends with len dermott, jim butcher, mike leahy, jim dyer and jim fairfax.
the two men who ran the operation were colonel henri and colonel rogers.
corporal butcher gave me an art lesson that i found useful, while captain dermott encouraged me to enroll in a pencil-and-watercolor art class which i attended in downtown d.c. during the summer.
major leahy and captain dyer seemed to be good friends; leahy always laughed at everything while captain dyer kept an intent and serious look on his face.
henry casselli showed up in our shop one day, after returning from viet nam and on his way to a future assignment. i always thought of him and phillip yaco as competing contemporaries -- both amazed me with their talent.
jim fairfax sent us a 30x40 acrylic illustration of a marine and a young vietnamese girl who were seated together along a jungle path. the man was portrayed as offering the child a drink from his canteen. his unbuttoned shirt exposed a medallion which on hung from a chain around his neck that caused trouble for our bosses.
because it resembled a backward swastika, the painting was never exhibited. jim claimed it to be an authentic apache token of some sort, and acted awfully upset after being told that his work had been banned from public viewing.
these are just a few of the memories i have of marine corps combat art -- i am sure you have many you could tell, too, and would love to hear them.
semper fi!
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