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American Morning
Celebrating Military Art
Aired August 23, 2001 - 09:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: When you think of the military's prized possessions, art probably doesn't come to mind. But maybe it should.
Here's CNN's Jeanne Meserve live at the Pentagon with a look at the armed forces as an art collector -- Jeanne, the art of war.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is.
The walls of the Pentagon are just studded with art. You have the portraits of military figures that you might expect. You also have pictures of naval vessels and aircraft. You also have pictures of combat, like this one. This is the Marine landing at Tarawa, one of the most ferocious battles of World War II.
But as much as you may see here on a tour, it is just a fraction of the 45,000 pieces in the military's collection.
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(voice-over): The glory, the gore, the hardware, the hard life: Virtually all aspects of the military are depicted in the art collections of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard.
RENEE KLISH, ARMY CURATOR: The Army arts program actually began in World War I, when eight artists were sent to Europe. Basically, they were told: Paint what you see in whatever medium, whatever style.
MESERVE: They have been at it ever since, in wartime and peacetime, swelling the Army's collection to more than 13,000 pieces of art.
KLISH: In World War II, many of the pieces are dark. They have come out of the Depression and into that.
In the Vietnam period, it is like being in the middle of a shag rug.
MESERVE: The Navy's combat art program didn't officially get under way until World War II.
Captain John Roach, painting for them since Vietnam, does not believe photography has rendered his skills obsolete. CAPT. JOHN ROACH, U.S. NAVY ARTIST: Photographs are an absolutely magnificent, wonderful way of capturing the moment and the event, but the artwork tends to transition beyond that and show you what was not seen, either by compressing the event or by an intellectual overlay of what you're looking at.
Roach sees himself as a spokesman for service men and women. And, indeed, these collections were initiated with public relations and propaganda in mind. But some of the artists, who have been both civilian and military, have chosen to show the fear and ferocity of war.
KLISH: These are some of our World War II pieces...
MESERVE: Many of these works hang in climate-controlled storage because the services have little display space. They do loan pieces out to museums, the Pentagon and the offices of high-ranking government officials. And, occasionally, works have disappeared.
This painting of Guantanamo Bay was recently recovered when it showed up on an Internet auction site. It had been missing for 50 years. Although some prominent artists have contributed, one curator acknowledges most of these are not Rembrandts or Van Goghs. What they are is history of the military and the country it serves.
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MESERVE: This artwork is, of course, the property of the U.S. taxpayers. And the curators would like you to see more of it. And so they're in the process of putting a lot of these works of art online so they will be more accessible to you.
Later today, we're going to be talking to a military artist, a gentleman who has painted for the Marines in Korea and Vietnam, about working under those conditions. But next hour: a look at the Navy's collection of model ships, an armada 2,000 ships strong.
Stephen, were you one of those guys who did models when you were a little kid?
FRAZIER: I did planes. Ships were a little too much for me, Jeanne.
MESERVE: Well, in any case, you are going to really envy these guys who maintain this collection, which is really just unbelievably beautiful -- back to you.
FRAZIER: And before you leave the paintings, Jeanne, what is that, D-Day, behind you?
MESERVE: No, this is Tarawa. This in a battle in the South Pacific. According to the label here, 4,500 Japanese were killed and the U.S. lost 1,100. So this was a major battle -- very ferocious. And this painting definitely captures it.
FRAZIER: Jeanne Meserve at the Pentagon -- Jeanne, thanks very much.
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