Saturday, May 5, 2012

Sketch Artist.


This is coolbert:

From the Internet web site and the May 2012 edition of the of the National Geographic magazine we have the story of the military sketch artist. Thanks to the text from Mr. Harry Katz:

"The world came to understand the Civil War through the eyes of battlefield artists. Living alongside the troops, combat illustrators risked death, injury, and disease to convey the blow-by-blow of battle with pencil and pen, charcoal, and crayon. Their work, sketched in the direst of circumstances, shows terrible violence but also moments of surprising grace."




"Civil War Battlefield Art"

Indeed, cameras of that period being what they were, the photographer such as Matthew Brady was confined to images of the "posed picture", the portrait, or the a depiction of warfare in the aftermath of a battle! Action photography NOT possible!

That void of visual reporting that the public desired satisfied by the artistry of the military sketch artist. Persons of immense talent doing yeoman work in furtherance of reportage. Sketch artists representations of American Civil War combat in a manner as it actually occurred and in a manner not possible for other media as they existed at the time.

These sketch artists referred to as SPECIALS a most fitting designation, well deserved!

See also this prior blog entry of mine dealing with the military sketch artist, a venerable trade and still in practice today!

coolbert.


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