100 Years of Illustration

Patriots Day 2011: George Eisenberg, 1942-1945

When I first uploaded 100 Years of Illustration seven years ago I described its contents as examples of outstanding talent which may or may not have been overlooked or forgotten. This has never been so true as it is now. It's my privilege to introduce the work of George S. Eisenberg while serving in combat in the U.S. Navy during his three-and-one-half years of duty in World War II.

I wouldn't dare try to paraphrase what George has written so I suggest you let him tell his own story, with the help of his daughter Julie Eisenberg Janson, by clicking on the links below.

George photographed with one of his officers, a Lt. Allen, on board the destroyer USS La Vallette.

George served throughout the war on LaVallette.

A hale and hearty 90-year-old George Eisenberg with a Japanese flag taken from Manila in 1945. You can read about his exploits on his website, A Sailor's Diary.

George S. Eisenberg: Captain Taylor, 1943

 

George S. Eisenberg: Fred Leslie, 1943

 

George S. Eisenberg: Spud Locker, 1943

 

George S. Eisenberg: Washing Dress Blues, 1944

George S. Eisenberg: Drake, 1944

 

George S. Eisenberg: Pop, 1945

 

 

George S. Eisenberg: Red, 1945

 

George S. Eisenberg: Bernard Waller, 1945

On a personal level I'm sorry to say that George and I have never met even though we freelanced for decades in Boston. He attended and graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1942, whereas I only attended the same school after World War II. We both worked for the old Boston Post newspaper, but he as an illustrator for its magazine section while I worked as a grunt in its art department.

However, I spent most of my time as a copy boy at the Post until V-J day in August of 1945. My claim to fame was being the kid who lettered the news on the chalkboard that hung outside the Post building, thereby scooping the Boston Globe, just across Washington Street. My reward was a job in the art department at the time George Eisenberg and his shipmates were sailing for home.

If you wanted the latest news in those halcyon days before television and computers, it could be gotten first on the chalkboards hung outside newspaper buildings, hours before a special edition could be printed and distributed to vendors.

Thank you to Julie Eisenberg Janson for introducing me to the exceptional work of her courageous and talented father.

 

Patriots Day 2011: Michael Fay, USMC, Afghanistan and Iraq, has a book

Mike Fay, working and walking in the shoes of Kerr Eby (1890-1946) and other famous combat artists, is now retired from the U.S. Marine Corps and publishing a book about his tours of duty and deployment on his web site. 

Michael Fay and his fiancée, Janis, who will be married on 10 October of this year at the newly completed chapel at the National Museum of the U.S. Marine Corps, in Triangle, VA, adjacent to the Quantico marine base.

You can read the first two chapters by clicking on the link above which will bring up Chapter Two. Simply scroll down to the introduction and the first chapter. Meanwhile, here are some illustrations that appear within the text.

 

Michael Fay has done what few among us ever has -- to the everlasting credit of the profession of illustration. Good luck, Mike, congratulations all around, to you and Janis, and on the auspicious occasion of your retirement and all the wonderful possibilities for the future.

 

Click on this line for other posts uploaded here about Michael Fay.

Patriots Day 2011: George Wright, 1918

 

An illustrated article in Harper's Monthly Magazine for August 1918. The "cantonments," or training camps were for the most part hastily constructed to meet the needs of a rapidly expanding army.

A corporal reports to his commanding officer in this illustration while company clerks toil in the background and an officer approaches with more paperwork. Except for the tight collar uniforms and Smokey the Bear hats, it depicts a familiar scene on any army post at any time since then.

This illustration ran across two pages and unfortunately the inking was not the same on both sheets. It was titled, "A Friendly Invasion of the Sunny South," where this horse cavalry was in training.

"The Grim Visage of War Has Many Aspects" is the last page of the article. It looks to be infantry bayonet training, gas mask drill, and the firing of automatic weapons under the command of a nattily attired instructor.

 

This Harper's Monthly Magazine article concerns navy recruits and rates getting acquainted with each other while training. The Armistice which ended World War I was signed at 11 AM, 11 November 1918, the month the article appeared. While there may have been photos involved, the drawings look spontaneous, and that's what counts in sketches. Wright's sketches are among his very best work, in my opinion. 

Click on these images to enlarge them.

 

 

 Look at these guys. They're perfect.

 Wright even sketched from the brig.

Click on this link for more of the work of George Wright and scroll down.