Evening star., 1945-11-25
BY Florence S. BerrVman

war is complex OF terror anC
tragedy and also an affair of vast
discomfort" as 1t. Mitchell Jamie.
son says with regard to many phases
depicted in his War Journal" ex-
hibition of paintings and drawings
at the Corcoran Gallery of Art
which opened last Sunday, to re-
main through December 9. This Sc
lection from approximately $50
works he completed from 1912 to
last summer, as an official Navy
combat artist, is shown under aus
pices of the United States Navy.
More than 10 works on view, So
framed pictures and 20 drawings in
cases, comprise the most compre-
hensive exhibition to date, of this
Washington artists war document
Smaller groups have been shown
here on several occasions, among
them his Normandy Invasion series
last spring at the Public Library, an
earlier group at the Corcoran Gal
lery as part of an exhibition of five
combat artists work, and another
a year ago at the Arts Club.
1t. Jameson, who is now in
Washington, undertook the difficult
task of choosing the works to be
shown, out of his large production
For in addition to the $50 completed
paintings and drawings, he made
1nnumerable preliminary sketches
on the spot. Visitors to the exhi-
bition can see two or three of these
sketches and the paintings subse-
quently developed from them.
In Many Battle Areas -,
The artist has covered many bat
tie areas, and shows work from
North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France
(both Normandy and Brittany
OkinaWa and Two Jima, as we'll as
work done at sea. All of these
places are represented in the pic.
lures on display.
From the beginning of this as
signment,' he says in the foreword
to his catalogue, "I have confined
my painting to what I have ex-
perienced and know to be strictly
true, at the same time having to
adapt my way of working to the
pressure of time and swift-moving
events" His tireless observation and
his deep sincerity are evident in his
paintings and drawings on view,
which always carry conviction and
in many instances, a profound sense
Of reality. Furthermore, the inter-
est is heightened by descriptive
labels written by the artist, who
paints pictures as vividly in words
as in pen and wash.
1t. Jameson was commissioned an
ensign in the United States Naval
Reserve in August, 1942. After at
tending indoctrination school at
Newport, R. l., he sketched various
phases of the amphibious training
program and of embarkation. En-
route to North Africa, he depicted
life aboard conveyed ship in such
drawings as Troop Hold" in the
current show, with its crowded con-
oition, boredom and discomfort.
In North Africa he transcribed the
impact Of military occupation from
the active harbor at Oran to the
ruins of Tunis and Bizerte. Among
the most interesting works on view
from this area is water color,
Stricken Ship" sinking in the har-
Dor, viewed by a large crowd on
shore. 1t. Jameson did not con-
fine his observations entirely to war
connected subjects, but included
aspects Of native life in the various
war areas. His Midnight, Oran,"
for example, depicts Arab coal
beavers scurrying like great black
rats up the narrow steps from the
water front, which the artist says is
one of the most terrible sights in
the world.
First Invasion
1t. Jameson was with the first
wave of ships in the invasion of
Sicily, and sketched many heroic
and dramatic events of that action.
His ink and water color "First
Wave, Sicily" a night scene of a
ship illuminated only by bomb set
fire several miles away, impresses
one as exactly right in its capture
of details in the dark. One of his
few oils in the exhibition is another
night scene of men in an LIST boat,
tense, motionless, the CLEANS on
their bayonets the only high lights
in the painting.
Following his duty in the Mediter-