National Air and Space Museum
Artist Soldiers: Artistic Expression in the First World War
April 6, 2017 – November 11, 2018
Artistic expression during the war contributed to this transformation. Before World War I, war art largely depicted heroic military leaders and romanticized battles, done long after the fact, far from the battlefield. The First World War marked a turning point with the appearance of artwork intended to capture the moment in a realistic way, by first-hand participants.
This exhibition examines this form of artistic expression from two complementary perspectives: one, professional artists who were recruited by the U.S. Army; the other, soldiers who created artwork. Together they shed light on World War I in a compelling and very human way.
A collaboration between the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum and National Museum of American History
