A pleasant discovery was finding the location of several works Perlin created for Life magazine in 1944. I had stumbled across the PBS documentary, They Drew Fire, which focuses on war artists, and something I need to go back and watch. What puzzled me was the attribution of a work we know Perlin has in his possession to the US Army Center of Military History.
In 1960, Life gave the hundreds and hundreds of works they had relating to their war art program to the Defense Department, which then transferred them to the US Army Center of Military History. This art covers all military branches, so don't be surprised if something documenting naval operations is in the Army Center.
Given the crazy leads I've been chasing down for my Resorts at Sea project, a quick email to the US Army Center would be cake. Lo and behold, they wrote back about a week later saying they have ten works by Bernard Perlin. Perlin did three articles for Life, and I have one of them; from February 1945. The art at the Army Center makes up the bulk of that article.
Ambush, Island of Samos, 1944 and Mountain Operations, 1944.
Courtesy of the Army Art Collection, US Army Center of Military History.
To me, the art shown here is an early ancestor to today's graphic novels. I even see some style similarities with Genndy Tartakovsky's groundbreaking animated series Samurai Jack.
Watch this space for further updates!
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