The Art of War: Sketching the Soldiers of WWII

November 6, 2013 5:27 AM

"At the height of World War II, [Elizabeth] Black abandoned a promising Pittsburgh art career to join the American Red Cross effort overseas. She proposed a project to sketch soldiers and send the portraits to worried families in the United States. For two years, she sketched her way across Europe, choosing her subjects through a lottery and completing as many as a dozen portraits a day." A footlocker full of her work was discovered recently by family members, and is now the subject of a documentary, “Portraits for the Homefront: The Story of Elizabeth Black.”

My favorite story about the portraits, from the Trib article:

Pittsburgh native and Irwin resident Betty Koppel Houston says it was about a year after her father, Leo Koppel, had been deployed with the Army that her worried family received a portrait of him from the Red Cross. He was sketched on leave in Holland after fighting in the Battle of the Bulge.

“It was exciting to see the portrait when it came home. I was 7 when he went away. I was Daddy's girl. I missed my father,” she says.

Thank you, Elizabeth Black. Via Stars and Stripes.

posted by MonkeyToes (6 comments total)

This woman was one of my father's classmates at Carrick.

This is a wonderful story, thanks so much for posting this. It's good to be reminded of the human connection which sometimes only art (and a smile) can provide.
posted by kinnakeet at 6:24 AM on November 6, 2013 [2 favorites]

what a great face she has. those are such better likenesses than a photograph would be. simply, i guess, for the fact that the viewer's mind would have to fill in the gaps the way memory would.
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 6:28 AM on November 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

Very neat. I didn't realize how many men were sporting mustaches in Europe, either.
posted by Atreides at 7:10 AM on November 6, 2013

This is wonderful.
posted by 256 at 10:44 AM on November 6, 2013

What a great story, love the portraits.
posted by SpecialSpaghettiBowl at 4:32 PM on November 6, 2013

I came across Chris Demarest in the Amherst (MA) library in May. He’s been sketching the faces of WW II for the last few years, working from period photographs, and currently is on what he calls a “WW II Traveling Portrait Journey.” (His blog.)
posted by LeLiLo at 5:52 PM on November 6, 2013 [1 favorite]