World WAR II NAVY ART:

A Vision of History

With the rise of tension in the "undeclared war" of the North Atlantic, Griffith Baily Coale convinced Admiral Chester W. Nimitz to send Navy artists into action to record their impressions in ways that cameras and the written word could not; the Navy Combat Artist Program was approved in August 1941. 

Eight Navy artists were sent to serve alongside fighting men and record their impressions of the action.  This small number of official Navy combat artists produced more than 1,300 drawings, watercolors and paintings.  They served in and documented a variety of actions in the European and Pacific theaters, including the Normandy invasion, campaigns in North Africa and the invasion of Okinawa.  Their art evokes the image of war and the personal experience of the men who fought in it.  It was used in books, magazines and toured the country in exhibitions designed to inform and raise the morale of the public. The captions in the exhibition are the artists' own words, oftentimes written on the reverse of the paintings, giving their unique insight into the events as they saw them. 

Standish Backus, JR.  (1910 – 1989)

Commander, USNR

Standish Backus Jr. graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Art and Architecture.  He went on to study painting and art in Europe where he developed the style of the California watercolorists.  In 1941, Backus reported for duty with the Navy and became a specialist in Net and Boom Defenses.  In 1945, he was assigned to cover Naval operations in the Pacific where he participated in the entry into Tokyo Bay and witnessed the surrender ceremonies aboard the USS Missouri on September 2, 1945.  As a civilian, Backus enjoyed illustrating, painting and teaching at his home in Santa Barbara, California until his death in 1989.

Griffith Baily Coale (1890 – 1950)

Commander, USNR

Griffith Baily Coale spent three years studying art in Munich, Paris, Italy and Spain.  After his returned to the United States, he became nationally known for his many famous murals and paintings.  In August 1941, the Combat Artist Program was approved and Coale was commissioned in the US Naval Reserve as Lieutenant Commander.  Coale was the Navy’s first combat artist on active duty.  After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Coale was sent there to gather materials to create a mural commemorating the tragedy.  In his six and one-half years with the Navy, Coale witnessed action in every ocean, including the Battle of Midway and British operations in Southeast Asia.   Coale retired from the Navy in 1945 with the rank of Commander.  He returned to his home and studio at Stonington, Connecticut, and resumed private work until his unexpected death in 1950.

William Franklin Draper (1912 – 2003)

Lieutenant Commander, USNR

William Draper attended the National Academy of Design and the Cope Art School in Massachusetts, as well as studying in France and Spain.  Draper did a series of paintings in 1942 while he was covering the Aleutians, Bougainville and Marianas campaigns.  These paintings later appeared in color reproductions of National Geographic.  Draper was awarded the Bronze Star medal for his work as a combat artist while painting in the Aleutians and the South Pacific.  When Draper returned to civilian life, he earned an international reputation as a portraitist.  His subjects include John F. Kennedy (1962), the Shah of Iran (1967), James Michener (1979) and Richard M. Nixon (1981).  His work is included in the collections of major museums such as the Metropolitan Museum and the National Portrait Gallery.

Mitchell Jamieson (1915 – 1976)

Lieutenant, USNR

One of the country’s foremost watercolor artists, Mitchell Jamieson attended the Abbot School of Fine and Commercial Arts and the Corcoran Art School in Washington, D.C.  Jamieson began his duty as an official combat artist in 1942.  Jamieson depicted the Navy and its operations from North Africa to the South Pacific and was awarded the Bronze Star medal for his work.  He was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship twice and the award of merit once by the American Academy of Art and Letters. 

Edward Millman (1907 – 1964)

Lieutenant, USNR

Edward Millman attended the Art Institute of Chicago and later became chief illustrator on the art staff of the Chicago Evening American.  His interest in the frescoes of Diego Rivera led him south to further his education in art by studying in Mexico.  In 1943, Millman was commissioned by the Navy and soon saw duty as a combat artist in the South Pacific theater of operations, including the Philippine campaign and in New Guinea.  Millman’s paintings would go on to be displayed in leading American museums and Art Galleries and he would be awarded a post-service Guggenheim fellowship for his success.   Millman taught extensively in the United States.  At the time of his death, he was Professor of Art at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a renowned abstract artist.

Albert K. Murray (1906-1992)

Commander, USNR

Upon graduating from the College of Fine Arts, Syracuse University, Albert Murray, continued his studies both in the United States and Europe and became well known as a portrait painter.  Assigned to the Combat Art Section and a newly commissioned Lieutenant, his first duty was to execute a series of portraits of the Navy's General Board.  Attached to the Fourth Fleet, South Atlantic and then the Eighth Fleet, North African waters, he often sketched in the heat of battle and was later awarded the Bronze Star for bravery.   After the war, Murray was assigned to paint official portraits of Navy war heroes and served as the director of the Navy Combat Art Collection and its Operation Palette, a series of Navy art shows that traveled throughout the country.   As a civilian, Murray also painted prominent civilians, among them Thomas J. Watson of IBM, the philanthropist Laurance S. Rockefeller and Arthur Hays Sulzberger, former publisher of the New York Times.  His work is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Art, the National Portrait Gallery and the National Museum of American Art.

Alexander P. Russo (1922 – )

Specialist First Class, USNR

Before enlisting in the Navy in 1992, Alexander Russo studied art at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.  When Russo joined the Navy, he began doing the layouts and illustrations for Navy publications.  Russo was assigned duty aboard a landing craft so he could capture the graphic events of the D-Day invasion in France.  Russo was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship for his combat artwork.  Russo continued to study art after the war and later taught at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C.  Russo was an active artist throughout his teaching career and had his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions.

Dwight C. Shepler (1905 – 1974)

Commander, USNR

Shepler graduated from Williams College and became a member of the American Artists Group and the American Artists Professional League.  Commissioned in 1942, he was assigned to a destroyer on pacific convoy duty.  Shepler painted and recorded the Navy’s warfare ranging from the Guadalcanal to the D-Day invasion.  He was awarded the Bronze Star medal for his work as a combat artist.  Shepler painted more than 300 combat scenes compiling a dramatic history of the war.  After the war, Shepler continued his career as a pioneer water colorist of the high ski country and served as president of the Guild of Boston Artists.

All of the artwork seen here is part of the U.S. Navy Art Collection.  The Navy Art Collection has more than 13,000 paintings, prints, drawings and sculpture.  It contains depictions of naval ships, personnel and action from all eras of U.S. naval history. The Branch manages the art collection, produces exhibits, loans artwork to museums and institutions and provides research assistance on the art collection.

Support for these exhibitions provided by First Albany Capital and The Swyer Family.  Additional Support for Navy WAVES provided by Excelsior College and The DR Group