American official war artists have been part of the American military since 1917. Artists are unlike the objective camera lens which records only a single instant and no more. The war artist captures
Rice distribution at Carrefour in Haiti after the earthquake in 2010. Oil sketch by Sgt. Kristopher Battles, USMC
In June 1966, the Army Vietnam Combat Artists Program was established as part of the United States Army Art Program, utilizing teams of soldier-artists to make pictorial records of U.S. Army activitie
Roger Blum, Vietnam Combat Artist Team I, discusses his painting "Attack at Twilight," completed with acrylic. The painting was inspired by Blum's first view of a burning "hooch," or hut, and he used dramatic lighting to emphasize the emotion of the painting.
NURSING by Robert C. Knight, CAT I, 1966, Courtesy of the National Museum of the U.S. Army
THE LOST OF WAR by Roger A. Blum, CAT I, 1966