Smithsonian Air and Space #3

So this is the last post regarding A&S paintings. I didn’t get the chance to check them out as fully as I would have liked and the narrow walkway wouldn’t allow straight on shots. Sorry for this. These two show Pearl Harbor from a Japanese perspective.

Smithsonian Air and Space, #2

So the area with the WW2 artifacts occupies two rooms the A&S museum in DC, and truth be told, it feels a little  cramped. For a more wide-open experience, check The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (in lovely Dulles near the airport).

In this photo, you can see how things are pretty much on top of each other to maximize the space. That said, the planes are what you’d expect to see in WW2 exibit, and there is a type of “theatre” mixing in this room that’s a little jarring. But this post is more about the B-17 Flying Fortress mural that dominates everything else in the room, especially if you enter from the second floor. That picture is here. Click on the picture for the full image. Stay tuned for more posts on the A&S museum in the coming weeks.

Looted art and WWII

Now this is writing.  The Smithsonian magazine offers yet another feature length piece on the history of World War II.  And it’s about art, no less, and one the better pieces I’ve read in some time.  The article is called Monumental Mission and it is authored by Robert Poole.

After having waded through Shirer’s Rise and Fall, I had a bit of background regarding the plunder of art by the Third Reich.  But honestly, I really didn’t get the scope of it all.  I get that Goering had his train cars full of loot, and others did as well.  But warehoueses full?  One memorable quote suggests the Nazis might have had a better chance at winning the war had they not spent some much time and energy stealing everything they could lay their hands on.  

There is also discussion of the one that got away, Raphael’s Portrait of a Young Man.  One of the men involved in hunting looted art after the war says he “still dreams about the Raphael…I still think I should have found that damn thing,” said Bernard Taper.  The  Raphael is still missing.

WW II Museums

Peter Chen over at ww2db.com recently visited the West Point Museum and Visitors Center in New York state.  A report of his visit is here.   In recent years, I’ve had the good fortune to visit the National Museum of the Marine Corp and the World War II Memorial in DC.  Both of these reports are hosted at the ww2db as well.  At the NMMC, the life-size displays throughout the museum were a highlight, and in DC at the WW II memorial, the bas-reliefs at the entry point were alone worth the trip.

Submarine Service

Down in Baltimore for a conference this week. As I was walking around the inner harbor after dinner at the DE-LISH Cheesecake factory (try the fish and chips), I thought to myself: “is that a sub over there?”

Indeed, it is the USS Torsk, and on AUG 14, 1945, “she completed her wartime career by sinking two more small ships, Coast Defense Vessel No. 13 and Coast Defense Vessel No. 47 . This action earned Torsk the distinction of firing the last torpedo and sinking the last Japanese combatant ships of World War II as the “Cease fire” order went out to all U.S. forces on 15 August.”

The Torsk is one of three vessels moored in the harbor, holdings of the Baltimore Maritime Museum.

More from the NPG

More from the 20th Century Americans exibit at the National Portrait Gallery:

* Winston Churchill–What struck me about this painting was the striking blue of the uniform, though it’s hard to see that in this picture.

* George Marshall–This one occupied a separate wall…very true to life rendering. Not at all like the MacAuthor painting.

* Anthony McAuliffe–I actually hoped to find this one…In the 101st A/B Triggertime forum, McAuliffe’s nephew mentioned in a post that he saw this portrait some time ago in the NPG, but was also looking for its companion piece, a full length portrait, that “disappeared” some years ago. Supposedly the NPG loaned it to a gallery in NYC in the 1950s and the gallery later went out of business. The portrait has been missing since.

Douglas MacAuthur

Now this one over at the NPG caught my eye among all the ww2 portraits. All the portraits there, and most others I’ve seen, are generally as true to life as the artist can make them. It’s almost as if a different kind of visual interpretation breaks the rule of painting “serious war fellows.” This painting works for me…maybe it’s the breezy feel, and the way the artist makes DM look like some cool-cat-dandy (in a good way). The only thing that reminds me of a uniform is the hat.

In the end, art is supposed to change the way you look at things anyway, maybe challenge you a little. This portrait certainly does.

Douglas MacArthur (reference via http://www.npg.si.edu/)

Sitter: Douglas MacArthur, 26 Jan 1880 - 5 Apr 1964
Artist: Howard Chandler Christy, 10 Jan 1873 - 4 Mar 1952
Date of Work: 1952?
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: Stretcher: 137.8 x 100.3cm (54 1/4 x 39 1/2″) Frame: 161.3 x 122.6 x 7cm (63 1/2 x 48 1/4 x 2 3/4″)
Owner : National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Acquisition Date: 1978
Credit Line: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Henry Ostrow
Exhibition: 20th Century Americans: 1930-1950
On View: S321
Ref. NPG.78.271

George Patton

Over at the National Portrait Gallery today and wandered in to the 20th Century Americans exhibit. This area, more or less, was the WWII section with portraits of Marshall, Halsey, Mark Clark, Churchill, Ike (though his was only 8×11—hopefully he has something better over in the American Presidents wing, though I didn’t have the chance to see that part of the museum today).

This one of Patton caught my eye (and sorry for my crappy photog work). But I enjoyed seeing this painting (some six feet tall), and the pearl handled pistol so well with associated with his persona.

The National Portrait gallery reference (via http://www.npg.si.edu/):

General George S. Patton, Jr.

Sitter: George Smith Patton Jr., 11 Nov 1885 - 21 Dec 1945
Artist: Boleslaw Jan Czedekowski, 1885 - 1969
Date of Work: 1945
Medium: Oil on canvas
Place of execution: Bad Tölz
Dimensions: Stretcher: 127 x 103.2cm (50 x 40 5/8″) Frame: 149.2 x 121.9 x 7cm (58 3/4 x 48 x 2 3/4″)
Owner : National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Acquisition Date: 1999-06-19
Credit Line: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Major General George S. Patton, U.S.A., Retired, and the Patton Family; Frame conserved with funds from the Smithsonian Women’s Committee
Exhibition: 20th Century Americans: 1930-1950
On View: S321
Ref. NPG.99.5

Paintings…

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.