World War I Beyond the Trenches On View May 26 – September 3, 2017

Selected PR Images

To honor the centennial of America’s involvement in World War I, the New-York Historical Society presents a special exhibition examining this monumental event through the eyes of artists. World War I Beyond the Trenches explores how artists across generations, aesthetic sensibilities, and the political spectrum used their work to depict, memorialize, promote, or oppose the divisive conflict. Based on the recent exhibition World War I and American Art organized by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the New York presentation features more than 55 artworks as well as artifacts from New-York Historical’s collection to provide greater historical context, such as World War I propaganda posters, a soldier’s illustrated letters, contemporary sheet music, uniforms and military gear, a battlefield diorama with vintage toy soldiers from the recently acquired Robert C. Postal Collection of Toy Soldiers, and a contemporary artwork by artist Debra Priestly.

All images must be reproduced in their entirety. No cropping, bleeding, or overprinting of images is permitted.

John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) Gassed, 1919 Oil on canvas, 90 ½ × 240 in. Courtesy of IWM (Imperial War Museums), London Photo: ©IWM Imperial War Museums, Art.IWM ART 1460 Ten British soldiers blinded by mustard gas are being led toward treatment, holding onto each other for support as they pass through their fallen comrades, while off-duty soldiers play soccer in the background. The tableau captures the spectrum of life in the midst of suffering, as well as Sargent’s view that war creates moral blindness as soldiers follow their leaders into chaos, darkness, and oblivion.

Childe Hassam (1859–1935) The Fourth of July, 1916 (The Greatest Display of the American Flag Ever Seen in New York, Climax of the Preparedness Parade in May), 1916. Oil on canvas, 36 x 26 1/8 in. Photography, Glenn Castellano. Courtesy of New-York Historical Society The Fourth of July, 1916, recently gifted to New-York Historical by Chairman Emeritus Richard Gilder, depicts Fifth Avenue bedecked with dozens of flags on Independence Day 1916 when New Yorkers rallied with patriotic fervor to support the Preparedness Movement, which advocated for U.S. entry into the war.

George Bellows (1882–1925) The Germans Arrive, 1918 Oil on canvas, 49 ½ × 79 ¼ in. Courtesy of Ian M. Cumming Photo: Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Reproduced with permission of The Bellows Trust Bellows initially took a pacifist position but was moved by accounts of civilian atrocities to create vivid works like The Germans Arrive (1918), a shocking scene of soldiers attacking townspeople.

Joseph Pennell (1857-1926) That Liberty Shall Not Perish from the Earth—Buy Liberty Bonds—Fourth Liberty Loan, 1918. Lithograph, 40 1/2 × 29 1/2 in. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of John T. Spaulding, RES.37.587 Photo: Courtesy of the Library of Congress Poster propaganda fostered a patriotic culture on the home front and promoted the subscription of Liberty loans to support the war effort. Pennell’s vision of lower Manhattan engulfed in flames made the stakes of U.S. involvement in the war apparent for his American audience.

Jane Peterson (1876–1965) Red Cross Work Room 5th Avenue, NYC during the War, c. 1917. Watercolor on paper, 17 ½ × 23 ½ in. Collection of Jonathan L. Cohen Women were also mobilized for war. They entered the workforce in roles from which they had previously been barred, inspiring societal change, and volunteered with humanitarian organizations like the American Red Cross. Jane Peterson depicted women rolling bandages at the Red Cross Center in New York.

George M. Cohan (1878–1942) “Over There” sheet music, 1917 New York: Leo Feist Inc. New-York Historical Society George M. Cohan’s “Over There” became the era’s hit song. “Johnnie, get your gun,” the singer pleads, with a chorus declaring, “That the Yanks are coming . . . / And we won’t come back ‘til it’s over, over there.” Hundreds of thousands of recordings were sold, as well as two million copies of sheet music, with different covers. Visitors can also hear a recording of the song.

Claggett Wilson (1887–1952) Flower of Death—The Bursting of a Heavy Shell—Not as It Looks, but as It Feels and Sounds and Smells, c. 1919. Watercolor and pencil on paperboard, 16 ½ × 22 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Alice H. Rossin, 1981.163.18 Photo: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC/Art Resource, NY Claggett Wilson, a Marine who served in critical battles, depicts an abstracted sunburst that immerses the viewer in the overwhelming experience of a shelling attack. This is one of several harrowing and hallucinatory watercolors by Wilson that capture how, in his words, war “feels and sounds and smells.”

Horace Pippin (1888–1946) The End of the War: Starting Home, 1930–33. Oil on canvas, 26 × 30 1/16 in. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Robert Carlen, 1941, 1941-2-1 Pippin, a member of the African American regiment known as the Harlem Hellfighters, began making art as physical and emotional therapy after being shot in battle. The frame, constructed by Pippin himself, is adorned with carved grenades, bombs, helmets, tanks, knives, and bayonets—as if to warn the viewer to stand clear of the hellish world depicted within its borders.

Susan Macdowell Eakins (1851–1938) Portrait of Lieutenant Jean-Julien Lemordant, 1917. Oil on canvas, 30 1/8 × 25 in. Courtesy of Debra Force Fine Art, New York On view are works that sensitively depict the humanity of lost or wounded soldiers, such as Susan Macdowell Eakins’ Portrait of Lieutenant Jean-Julien Lemordant (1917), a French artist and pacifist who was blinded in action.

Salvatore Cillis Letter to Miss D. M. Harris, Camp Upton, Long Island, NY, December 28, 1917. New-York Historical Society Through the illustrated letters of New York soldier Salvatore Cillis, visitors can see the deeply personal experience of the war. His letters follow him from training camp to the battlefield. In this one, he depicts his “first battle with snowballs.”

Childe Hassam (1859–1935) Flags on 57th Street, Winter 1918, 1918 Oil on canvas, 35 ¾ × 23 ¾ in. New-York Historical Society, Bequest of Julia B. Engel, 1984.68 Hassam’s “Flag Series” communicates the patriotic fervor of World War I. Through a distorted perspective, it represents an Impressionistic bird’s-eye view of 57th Street and Sixth Avenue as seen from the artist’s studio.

George Benjamin Luks (1867–1933) Armistice Night, 1918 Oil on canvas, 37 × 68 3/8 in. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Gift of an anonymous donor, 54.58 Photo: ©Whitney Museum of American Art Armistice Night (1918) captures a joyful nocturne of New Yorkers flooding the streets to celebrate the end of the war, on Armistice Day, November 11, 1918.

John Steuart Curry (1897–1946) The Return of Private Davis from the Argonne, 1928–40. Oil on canvas, 38 ¼ × 52 ¼ in. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, Museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund, 2011.763. ©Estate of John Steuart Curry, courtesy of Kiechel Fine Art, Lincoln, NE The Return of Private Davis from the Argonne (1928–40) depicts the ceremonial reburial of the artist’s high school friend, whose body was returned from Europe in 1921, three years after being tragically killed on his first night on watch.

Debra Priestly (b. 1961) somewhere listening: Company B, 365th Infantry Regiment, 92nd Division, A.E.F. 1918-1919 (detail), 2014 Charcoal pencil on paper mounted on archival board, 28 x 284 x ½ in. (overall). Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Museum Purchase, 2017.4 This installation depicts 212 soldiers in a photograph from the artist’s grandmother’s collection. The images appear as a memorial to this African American unit, which included Priestly’s great uncle.

James Montgomery Flagg I Want You For U.S. Army, 1917 Poster, 29 x 39 ¾ in. New-York Historical Society I Want You is one of the most enduring images of the 20th century. Flagg himself was the model for the finger-pointing Uncle Sam. More than 30 propaganda posters for the war effort on display illustrate what New Yorkers would have seen on billboards, in schools, and in offices on a daily basis.

Harrison Fisher (1875–1934) Red Cross Woman, 1917 Poster New-York Historical Society Posters featuring the image of a Red Cross nurse with outstretched arms were used to motivate women to join the war effort.

Eugenie DeLand (b. 1872) Before Sunset, 1917 Poster New-York Historical Society World War I historical artifacts—such as this poster which warned that the catastrophe in Europe threatened to spill onto American soil—complement the exhibition and offer additional context about the wartime American experience.

E. G. Renesch Colored Man Is No Slacker, 1918 The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC06134 Colored Man Is No Slacker (1918) depicts a couple’s farewell before he joins the wave of soldiers passing by, an image that encouraged African American men to join segregated units.