Tag Archives: War

Salmagundi

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“The Apotheosis of Athanasios Diakos” by Konstantinos Parthenis

c.1933 / Oil on canvas / 150”x150” / National Art Gallery and Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Athens

Konstantinos Parthenis (1878-1967), Greek painter

Athanasios Diakos was a hero of the Greek War of Independence. Prior to the war he entered a monastery and was ordained a deacon (“diakos” in the Greek language). One day a Turkish pasha came to his monastery and made some crude remarks about his good looks. Diakos slew him and fled to the mountains. He join a band of klephts who made him second in command. Eventually, he headed his own band. In April 1821, Omer Vrioni, the commander of the Turkish army, advanced with 9,000 men from Thessaly to crush the revolt in Peloponnesus.

Athanasios Diakos

Diakos’ men fought for several hours before they were overwhelmed. The wounded Diakos was taken to Vrioni. Vrioni offered to make Diakos an officer in his army but Diakos refused and replied “I was born a Greek and I will die a Greek”.
FROM http://wiki.phantis.com/index.php/Athanasios_Diakos

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Salmagundi

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Fifteen officers of the 17th Regiment of Foot posed on a hill at camp, 1855

Roger Fenton (1819-1869) [War]

Photograph of Roger Fenton (1819-1869) dressed in traditional Zouave costume.

…the British government hired photographer Roger Fenton to travel to Crimea and create some of the first war photographs in history. He arrived in March 1855 and stayed for 3.5 months.
FROM https://mashable.com/2016/01/06/crimean-war/#JJZDNMTVAuqa

While the sight of soldiers with a sketchbook as well as the occasional artist was not uncommon in the Crimea, the idea of a photographer ‘at the seat of war’ was new. Consequently, Fenton was pestered by troops wanting their ‘likeness’ taken, so much so that he noted he would ‘dread the sight of English officers riding up to my van’.
FROM http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/terrible-beauty

The Valley of the Shadow of Death, 1855

In the course of a single decade, Fenton had played a pivotal role—by advocacy and example—in demonstrating that photography could rival drawing and painting not only as a means of conveying information, but also as a medium of visual delight and powerful expression.
FROM https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/rfen/hd_rfen.htm

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Salmagundi

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John Tinney McCutcheon (1870-1949)

John T. McCutcheon, in full John Tinney McCutcheon, (born May 6, 1870, South Raub, Indiana, U.S.—died June 10, 1949, Lake Forest, Illinois), American newspaper cartoonist and writer…He received a Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for a cartoon dealing with bank failure.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-T-McCutcheon

After graduating from Purdue with a B.S. degree in 1889, McCutcheon moved to Chicago and was hired to work for the Chicago Morning News (later known as the Chicago Record) as an artist. He began doing front page cartoons for the newspaper in 1895. In 1903, McCutcheon joined the staff of the Chicago Tribune and served in capacities as both an editorial cartoonist and occasional foreign correspondent until his retirement in 1946.
http://www4.lib.purdue.edu/archon/?p=collections/findingaid&id=950&q=&rootcontentid=7101#bioghist

Although McCutcheon is best known for his illustration work, he also served as a Chicago Tribune correspondent for the Spanish American War, the Philippine insurrection, the South African (Boer) War and World War I, from both the German and Allied fronts.
https://www.chipublib.org/fa-john-t-mccutcheon-cartoons/

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Salmagundi

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The Battle of the USS “Kearsarge” and the CSS “Alabama”
Édouard Manet (1832-1883)
1864 / Oil on canvas / 54 1/4”x50 3/4” / Philadelphia Museum of Art

During the American Civil War, the United States warship Kearsarge made headlines after sinking the Confederate raider Alabama off the coast of France. Manet did not witness firsthand the widely-covered event but devoted two paintings to the subject: a scene of the naval battle (Philadelphia Museum of Art) and [The “Kearsarge” at Boulogne, 1864, The Met], prompted by his subsequent visit to the victorious ship at anchor near Boulogne. They were his first depictions of a current event.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/438144

Although he did not witness the historic battle, Manet made a painting of it partly as an attempt to regain the respect of his colleagues after having been ridiculed for his works in the 1864 Salon. Manet’s picture of the naval engagement and his portrait of the victorious Kearsarge belong to a group of his seascapes of Boulogne whose unorthodox perspective and composition would profoundly influence the course of French painting.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications

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Salmagundi

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Take-Off: Interior of a Bomber Aircraft / c.1943 / Oil on canvas / 72”x60” / Imperial War Museums, UK

Dame Laura Knight (1877-1970)

A talented artist, Laura entered Nottingham School of Art when she was fourteen. While there she met Harold Knight and was deeply influenced by his work…Laura married Knight in June, 1903. Knight established herself as the most important woman artist in Britain and in 1936 became the first woman to be elected to the Royal Academy since 1760. During the Second World War Laura became an official war artist. She was also sent to cover the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials.
FROM http://spartacus-educational.com/ARTknight.htm

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Salmagundi

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Princeton Battle Monument (1922)

This limestone monument was designed by the prominent Beaux Arts sculptor Frederick MacMonnies with the help of architect Thomas Hastings. Commissioned in 1908, it was finished and dedicated in 1922, with President Harding in attendance. On the sides of the monument are the seals of the United States and the original thirteen states, including New Jersey. The creation of the monument served to commemorate the Battle of Princeton, which took place on January 3, 1777. The sculpture depicts Washington leading his troops into battle, as well as the death of General Hugh Mercer.
https://princetonhistory.org/research/historic-princeton/historic-sites/

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