A Combat Artists Sketch Book

Capt. C.J. Baumann, right, holds his sketchbook while in Djibouti, Africa, on a Marine tour funded by the National Museum of the Marine Corps combat artists program. (C.J. Baumann)

Marine Times: The Art of War: How combat artists are capturing the soul of the Marine Corps

It was a hot day in the African desert with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, on a deployment to ­Djibouti, Africa.

A Fox Company Marine lieutenant with 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines, stood facing thirty-some Marines as he briefed them before that day’s live-fire exercise.

Marine Capt. C.J. Baumann stood behind them.

But Baumann’s weapon of the day wasn’t a firearm. It was his pencil and sketchbook.

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Guns And America

The most profound 36 seconds of your day. You will not regret watching this. 2nd Amendment+USA 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/X9mtrCkG6e

— X Strategies (@XStrategiesDC) December 24, 2018

WNU Editor: Wow!!! Watch the entire clip.

This Is How The Mona Lisa Was Saved During World War Two

A new book reveals how Jacques Jaujard worked out a modus vivendi with the Nazis of civil co-existence which helped him to oversee the evacuation of Louvre’s treasures including the Mona Lisa (pictured being returned to Louvre in 1945) during World War II. He was able to protect thousands of cultural masterpieces from destruction

Daily Mail: Quiet man who saved the Mona Lisa from the Nazis’ clutches: Fascinating account of the thousands of French masterpieces saved during World War II

* A new book reveals how the Louvre’s treasures were protected in World War II
* Jacques Jaujard ensured items were kept safe from bombs, damp and the Nazis
* He had items including the Mona Lisa evacuated out of Paris during 1939
* Dukes in the South and West of France sheltered the cultural items in chateaux
* However the Nazi's destroyed some 500 masterpieces including work by Picaso

Reading Hamlet at school, I was taught that the delaying habit is a bad one. This new book, about how the Louvre’s priceless treasures were protected during the German occupation of France in World War II, utterly contradicts that theory.

It was through the delaying tactics of a self-effacing civil servant called Jacques Jaujard that the precious objects we most associate with the Louvre — the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the French crown jewels, as well as thousands of other items — were saved from destruction through bombing or damp.

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WNU Editor: A truly fascinating story.

Why “Guernica” Is The Greatest War Painting Of All Time

Noah Charney, Salon: Picasso’s weapon against fascism: Why “Guernica” is the greatest of all war paintings

80 years after Franco's forces led a terror bombing of civilians, Picasso's painting of the horror still works.

On April 26, 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, a swarm of fighter planes attacked the Basque town of Guernica, killing hundreds of civilians. The town was an important strategic center for the Republican forces, who were fighting against the Nationalist forces, the ultimate victors, led by General Franco. Guernica was the traditional meeting place for a Basque governmental body, but it was also the last defensible town for the Republicans, standing between Franco’s forces and the Basque capital, Bilbao.

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WNU Editor: I first saw a picture of it in high school .... and an explanation that because of the shades of dark/grey/white that Picasso used, it cannot be photographed properly. I have seen the tapestry of Guernica at the United Nations more than once .... it is definitely a striking piece of work. On my bucket list .... my hope is that I will get to see the original in Madrid one day. For more info on this painting, Wikipedia has a good post on it (the link is here).

Art Exhibit Calls Brussels And Paris Bombers As 'Martyrs'

Ibrahim and Khalid el-Bakraoui have been identified by Belgian police as the Brussels suicide bombers. Photograph: INTERPOL/HANDOUT

The Guardian/AFP: Anger over 'martyrs' exhibition for Brussels and Paris bombers

Exhibit will include works on Ibrahim and Khalid El-Bakraoui, Brussels suicide bombers, and Foued Mohamed-Aggad, one of the Bataclan attackers

A Copenhagen art exhibit planning to portray two of the Brussels suicide bombers and one of the Paris Bataclan attackers as “martyrs” has been reported to police for encouraging terrorism.

In an exhibit partly inspired by Tehran’s Martyrs’ Museum, a Danish group of artists plans to include brothers Ibrahim and Khalid el-Bakraoui, who detonated bombs in the deadly Brussels attacks on 22 March, and Foued Mohamed-Aggad, who blew himself up at Paris music venue Bataclan on 14 November.

The installation will have the look of a museum, using images of the “martyrs”, replicas of their belongings and plaques to explain who they are.

The suicide bombers will be featured alongside historical figures considered to have died for their cause, such as French heroine Joan of Arc and Greek philosopher Socrates, said Ida Grarup Nielsen of artist collective The Other Eye of The Tiger.

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WNU Editor: It is at moments like this that you have to wonder if some in  Europe have lost their minds.

Is Russian President Putin About To Inherit A $2 Billion Art Collection?

Putin touring the Guggenheim Museum in 2005. This painting is unrelated to the collection mentioned in the article.

Business Insider: A private art collection of mysterious origins is possibly worth $2 billion — and will eventually go to Vladimir Putin

In central Moscow there is a private art collection of mysterious origins guarded by an octogenarian, Nina Moleva, who says it's filled with original works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, and other Renaissance masters, according to a report by Layli Foroudi in the Moscow Times.

And ultimately, this collection will go to none other than Putin, per Moleva's wishes.

Moleva maintains that a Paris-based auction house valued this collection with a starting price of $400 million and an estimated real value of $2 billion after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

WNU Editor: The idea that this private collection contains original works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt .... and it is valued at $2 billion .... is a stretch. To begin .... all of the works of da Vinci, Rembrandt, and Michelangelo are well known .... but on the off chance that these are unknown works and/or legitimate works from these artists .... the value would be far more than $2 billion. And as for Putin inheriting it .... it is known that he loves art .... but accepting it would be a stretch even for him. My prediction ... he will dedicate it to St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum of which he is a regular visitor.

Imagining A Nuclear Middle East

Hat Tip: Theo Spark

The Real Monuments Men

American GIs hand-carry paintings down the steps of the Neuschwanstein castle under the supervision of Capt. James Rorimer. NARA photo: 239-RC-14-5

The Real Monuments Men -- Richard Green, National Archives

Nestled within the Italian Alps, in the small village of San Leonardo, behind the doors of an abandoned jail cell, sat some of the world’s most cherished pieces of art. Together with a nearby repository in Campo Tures, it was estimated that the hidden artwork was worth about 500 million dollars. That was in 1945. Today, that value would be closer to $6.5 billion.

Roughly 70 years after finding the hidden art, the major motion picture, The Monuments Men, is set to debut in theaters nationwide. The movie tells the story of the men and women from the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (MFA&A) Section of the Allied Expeditionary Forces. Made up of art historians, museum curators, archivists, and architects, these “Monuments Men,” as they came to be called, were assigned to protect Europe’s cultural heritage. As World War II engulfed the continent, that task became exceedingly difficult.

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My Comment: I saw George Clooney's "The Monuments Men" this weekend .... and I enjoyed it. But I suspect that the real story of these men is even more remarkable.

The CIA's Secret Art Collection

After 9/11, operations against al-Qa’ida were launched. The first CIA team landed in Afghanistan just 15 days after the attack and immediately began building the base for Operation Enduring Freedom. This canvas captures just one of the many resupply drops from a CIA-owned, Soviet-built MI-17 helicopter. The conditions were brutal and the supply drops were risky, but the painting is intended to capture the unseen efforts that went into each mission. Behind the scenes, intelligence analysts, logisticians, security officers, indigenous allies, operational planners, and U.S. military components worked diligently to pull off perilous supply drops.

CIA’s ‘Intelligence Art Collection’ Now Open To The Public -- Guns.com

The CIA is home to a secretive art collection of various pieces of work based on historically significant moments in U.S. history.

Everything the CIA touches becomes shrouded in mystery, including their “Intelligence Art Collection.” While most people don’t have access to the paintings and sculptures inside the CIA, the Southern Museum of Flight in Alabama is open to the public and displays replicas in their exhibit called “Shadow Gallery, The Art of Intelligence,” Boing Boing reports.

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My Comment: Picasso it is not .... and it is only a few pieces .... but it is still an interesting collection.

Portraits Of War

Victor Juhasz, an artist with the Society of Illustrators in New York, working on a drawing of Staff Sergeant Alejandro Jaurequi at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Marcus Yam for The New York Times

Portraits Of War -- New York Times

ONE day late last month, a group of artists from the Society of Illustrators in New York assembled at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center here. Armed with pads, pencils and cameras, they had two hours to carry out their mission: making drawings of service members wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. A naval petty officer shuttled them through the wards to patients who’d agreed to participate. And before long, two of the artists — Victor Juhasz, known for his satirical drawings in Rolling Stone, and Jeff Fisher, an illustrator from Long Island — found themselves in a room with Alejandro Jauregui, 27, an Army staff sergeant who barely three weeks earlier had lost both legs to a makeshift bomb in Afghanistan.

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WNU Editor: The photo gallery starts here.

Moving Oil Paintings Of Life On The Front Line

Eye-opening moments: The sergeant major worked from life, photos and his war diaries

It's The Studio Of War: Sgt Major Fighting Taliban Creates Series Of Moving Oil Paintings Of Life On The Front Line -- Daily Mail

A sergeant major fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq has created a series of beautiful oil paintings depicting the reality of war.

Brave Doug Farthing's poignant scenes from trenches and battlefields provide an insider's look at life on the front line.

The 44-year-old's expressive paintings reveal another side to the conflicts that we normally only see through photographs and on television.

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My Comment: This quote from the artist sums up what he does ....

.... 'War art is important,' he added. 'I document the real life events of serving soldiers.'

Artwork By US Soldiers Shows A Century Of War Through Their Eyes

Young soldier: Look at the childlike face of this modern solider, loaded down with a weapon and the gear required to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan

Dramatic Artwork By US Soldiers Shows A Century Of War Through Their Eyes -- Daily Mail

Since the first Americans marched off to fight the British for independence, soldiers have been chronicling US wars with paintings and drawings that show the conflicts from the perspective of the troops on the ground.

Here are just a few of the 1,500 works of art by servicemen and women that were on display at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia as part of their Art of the American Solider exhibition.

Beginning with portrayals of trench warfare in World War I, the artworks cover every American conflict through the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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A Sculpture By Douwe Blumberg Titled “De Oppresso Liber” Honors Our Military

Special Forces On Horseback in Afghanistan

Commando Monument Near Ground Zero Unveiled On Veterans Day -- Washington Times

NORMAN, Okla. — The first statue near ground zero to salute the heroes of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will not depict a New York firefighter or policeman — but a lone U.S. commando on horseback in the Afghan mountains.

Titled “De Oppresso Liber” — “to free the oppressed,” the Green Berets’ motto — the 3-ton, 18-foot-tall bronze monument was forged to honor the troops who first responded to al Qaeda’s attack from its safe haven in Afghanistan.

A piece of steel from the World Trade Center is embedded in its base, which bears the words “America’s Response Monument.” The statue was expected to be unveiled during the national Veterans Day Parade in New York on Nov. 11.

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My Comment: Beautiful is the word that describes this piece of work.

A sculpture by Douwe Blumberg, titled “De Oppresso Liber,” could be headed for Zuccotti Park once protesters depart. Tina Fineberg for The New York Times

So Much For The Army's $600,000 Toad Art Projec

Army Scraps $600,000 Toad Art Project -- U.S. News And World Report

The Army, under public and congressional attack for a $600,000 plan to dress up a bus depot at a new military facility near Washington with three pieces of art, such as a 10 foot-tall fairy riding a gurgling toad, has scrapped the project. Instead, it will go with a simple plan to “enhance the aesthetics” of a concrete wall at the new Mark Center in Alexandria, Va.

The reversal came after Washington Whispers, the Drudge Report, and local media focused on the pricey project and one of the leading contenders for the $600,000, a proposal for two murals and a huge toad and fairy sculpture.

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My Comment: I do appreciate the concept that art is in the eye of the holder, and that some art may appear bizarre or ridiculous to some while to others it is something to be praised .... but for the Army to get involved in such a project when facing huge future cuts in spending .... hmmmm .... I will have to say no.

Women And Modern Art In War Torn Afghanistan

‘Scream’, by Marzia Nazary, at the arts center’s exhibition.
Adam Ferguson/VII Network for The New York Times

Women and Modern Art in Afghanistan -- New York Times

KABUL, Afghanistan — Under the watchful eye of a male instructor, a teenage boy is deep in focus, trying to trace and copy from a postcard as accurately as possible. For years, this has been the art scene in Afghanistan: stale, and dominated by men. Realism has long ruled as the only accepted style.

The degree of accuracy in copying from a picture — and occasionally a live model — has been the only yardstick by which artists have been judged.

The tide, however, seems to be turning, even if gradually. For one week in June two spacious auditoriums at Kabul University hosted a large exhibition on the themes of pollution and the environment.

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Hat Tip: Permissible Arms

My Comment: From the few pictures that have been published, this appears to be an awesome exhibition.