Paintings

[JackADriscoll]

Were there any veterans that became painters and painted hyper realistic paintings? What is your favorite war painting?

 

[Kurtlg]

Were there any veterans that became painters and painted hyper realistic paintings? What is your favorite war painting?

Winslow Homer was not a veteran but he was sent to cover the war by Harpers. His paintings and sketches accurately depict the lives of the soldiers and I think they are very realistic. One of my favorite paintings by him is "The Brierwood Pipe" depicting two Zouaves in camp. There are veterans who painted during and after the war. Some are quite good but none are in the same class as Homer.

 

[Kurtlg]

There were two Confederate veterans who became respected artists , John Adams Elder and William Ludwell Sheppard. Look up their works and you will see many familiar paintings.

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

Were there any veterans that became painters and painted hyper realistic paintings? What is your favorite war painting?

I would call the example shown in this link hyper realistic -

Soldier-Artists and the Battle Experience (Part I) - Emerging Civil War

This is the first of two posts regarding soldier-artists and their depictions of the experience of battle. “Pshaw. It’s no use, they can’t picture a battle,” exclaimed the young son of Reverend A. M. Stewart of the 102nd Pennsylvania Volunteers, a recent observer of the battles of Williamsburg...

emergingcivilwar.com

 

[RedRover]

There's Julian Scott, a Union veteran. He's my favorite of the veteran painters postwar. Here's his painting of the battle of Williamsburg, showing a firing line of battle...

His painting of the battle of Chancellorsville, shows a regiment in column formation advancing into action, before deploying into line:

And the 1864 battle of Cedar Creek:

On the Confederate side, Allen C. Redwood and William L. Sheppard did lots of war illustration. Redwood principally B/W engravings for publication. Sheppard too. His best battle depictions are simply sketches:

 

[Old Soldier]

Morals and sensitivities of the day prevented 'hyper-realism'. Most artwork was done by folk who were not there and pictured a rather 'idealist' scene. The most notable errors included men in line in exactly the same pose.

This is one of the better ones.

Then, of course, there is the cavalry charge. Most galloping horses are shown with splayed legs. It wasn't until 1878 that the leg action of a galloping horse was actually captured on camera! - but it looked good.

Those in the thread above look much more realistic, but note that they are pictured from behind the Front Line. We do not see the blood or the bayonet going in. There seems to have been a convention that blood would not be portrayed. Soldiers being shot either threw their arms in the air or clutched the part hit. We rarely see the moment anyone is struck by bayonet or sword, it is usually just before or after, often being parried or avoided.

But definitely NO BLOOD! Realism often has to be married with convention.

Remember too, that those who took part rarely talked about it until decades afterwards, friends lost, the killing of others. The artists would be similarly affected. That picture of General Winfield Scott Hancock at Williamsburg was painted in 1880. For many the publishing of their memories and the painting of scenes they had witnessed was a therapy to put their minds at ease.

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

Artist Mathews sketched this "on the spot" and there's no blood, but the attackers and defenders are in a more realistic state of disorder- and the soldiers who are laying on the ground to fire their weapons seem to show a well developed sense of self-preservation.
Source: Library of Congress

The battle of wild cat, Oct. 21st, 1861 / sketched on the spot by Alfred E. Mathews, 31st Regiment, Ohio.

 

[Pollaco]

Allen Christian Redwood comes to mind.

 

[Pollaco]

Allen Christian Redwood comes to mind.

Gen. Bradley Johnson said that Redwood was "the best drawer of the Confederate soldiers who has ever lived."

 

[Pollaco]

Didn't Nicola Marschall have a successful career as an artist?

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

Didn't Nicola Marschall have a successful career as an artist?

During his career, Marschall painted portraits of Jefferson Davis, Abraham Lincoln, Otto von Bismarck, various Southern families, and Confederate and Union soldiers.[1] He was one of the few who was able to have Nathan Bedford Forrest pose for him.

Source:

Nicola Marschall - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Pollaco]

Even had Marchall not "taken up the brush" he'd have had an interesting career.

 

[Lampasas Bill]

Keep in mind that many of the black and white illustrations the public saw were engravings made for publication. They were usually based on sketches done by war artists who witnessed the actual events. Most of the sketches lacked "hyper realistic" details, just showing the main features of the action and the terrain. Important details were often described in written notes to guide the engraver. As a result, many of the details in the engraved illustrations were provided by the engravers, and some were more accurate than others.

 

[MAJOR DUNDEE]

Great paintings , all of them were unknowed to me.
There is a similar talk in course there : https://civilwartalk.com/threads/james-walker-painting.205500/#post-2699248

 

[MAJOR DUNDEE]

Some of them succed in catching the shade, the powder smoke, and the dust , which are very difficult -according to me- to recreate.

He's not a USCW veteran, but in this painting, the artist ROD WITMER catches a pistol gunsmoke mostly perfect, you can see it there :

https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/322077810829531488/

 

[MAJOR DUNDEE]

Looking closely at it, you can notice a Union officer who rides a mule...

 

[JackADriscoll]

This has been great. Thanks for the education

 

[Old Soldier]

Keep in mind that many of the black and white illustrations the public saw were engravings made for publication. They were usually based on sketches done by war artists who witnessed the actual events. Most of the sketches lacked "hyper realistic" details, just showing the main features of the action and the terrain. Important details were often described in written notes to guide the engraver. As a result, many of the details in the engraved illustrations were provided by the engravers, and some were more accurate than others.

Again, people need reminding that the newspaper photograph was still some 50 years in the future. Most newspapers of the day had NO illustrations and used 'the 'letterpress' system - text only. These 'etchings' or 'engravings' (two different processes) were the only way to show any pictures and these mainly appeared in periodicals - weekly at best - since they used a different method of printing - lithograph - which allowed these two sets of pictures to be printed although often as a separate sheet called a 'Figure' or 'Plate'. Bear in mind that real action photographs were still some 80 years distant.

Incidently, this was why many period books and more modern ones, up to the 1930s, have separate illustrations on different paper and these were inserted into or between the 'signatures' (small folded sections of text) or in their own signature at the end of the book which were sewn together onto a flexible 'spine' and inserted into a 'hard cover'.

Two examples: photo in Shakespeare's Comedies (c1912) and an engraving in Infantry Training 1912

You can even see the stitching!

 

[Mike Serpa]

David Hunter Strother (September 26, 1816 – March 8, 1888) was an American journalist, artist, brevet Brigadier General, innkeeper, politician and diplomat from West Virginia. Both before and after the American Civil War (in which he was initially a war correspondent), Strother was a successful 19th-century American magazine illustrator and writer, popularly known by his pseudonym, "Porte Crayon" (French, porte-crayon: "pencil/crayon holder").

David Hunter Strother - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Pollaco]

Conrad Wise Chapman was severely wounded at Shiloh but continued his pursuit of art after the war.