I found the most interesting art online yesterday from the U.S. Navy Collection of all places. One artist really captured my imagination, Kerr Eby (1889-1946). Aside from the fact he was a really good draughtsman, his depictions lead me to have other ideas than about his ability to reproduce reality. The picture that did it was one the Navy does not provide a link for. It's a soldier with jungle rot, bent over having his ass inspected by a fellow soldier.

When the United States declared war in 1941, Eby tried to enlist, but was turned down because of his age. He instead received his opportunity to participate when Abbott Laboratories developed its combat artist program. Between October 1943 and January 1944, he traveled with Marines in the South Pacific and witnessed some of the fiercest fighting of the war, landing with the invasion force at Tarawa and living three weeks in a foxhole on Bougainville. While on Bougainville he became ill with a tropical disease, one which weakened his health. He returned to the United States unable to regain his full strength. He completed his final drawings for Abbott and two unrelated etchings, but could not complete the etchings that he intended to make from his war pictures. He died in Norwalk, Connecticut in 1946.



Kerr Eby #13
Charcoal, 1944