War artist A war artist depicts some aspect of war through art . The art might be a pictorial record , or it might commemorate how war shapes lives . War artists explore the visual and sensory dimensions of war , often absent in written histories or other accounts of warfare . Definition and context . A war artist creates a visual account of the impact of war by showing men and women are waiting , preparing , fighting , suffering , celebrating , or destroyed , as in Vasily Vereshchagin ' s 1871 painting , " The Apotheosis of War . " The works produced by war artists illustrate and record many aspects of war and the individual ' s experience of war , whether allied or enemy , service or civilian , military or political , social or cultural . The role of the artist and his work embrace the causes , course , and consequences of conflict , and has an essentially educational purpose . Artists record military activities in ways that cameras and the written word cannot . Their art collects and distills the experiences of the men and women who endured in it . The artists and their artwork affect how subsequent generations view military conflicts . For example , Australian war artists who grew up between the two world wars were influenced by the artwork which depicted the First World War , and there was a precedent and format for them to follow . Official war artists have been appointed by governments for information or propaganda purposes and to record events on the battlefield ; but there are many other types of war artists . These can include combatants who are artists and choose to record their experiences , non - combatants who are witnesses of war , and prisoners of war who may voluntarily record the conditions or be appointed war artists by senior officers . In New Zealand , the title of appointed " war artist " changed to " army artist " after the two world wars . In the United States , the term " combat artist " has come to be used to mean the same thing . Some examples and their background . William Simpson was an artist - correspondent who sent artwork to London from the front during the Crimean War . Alfred Waud was an American civil war pictorial newspaper illustrator . Ogata Gekkō and Tsuguharu Foujita created woodblock prints for Japanese publications . Ronald Searle recorded life in Japanese POW camps . Emmanuel Leutze ' s 1851 studio painting of " Washington Crossing the Delaware " is historically incorrect , and Leutze was born decades after the event his painting depicts , but this work has become an icon of popular culture . American . The American panorama created by artists whose work focuses on war began with a visual account of the American Revolutionary War . The war artist or combat artist captures instantaneous action and conflates earlier moments of the same scene within one compelling image . Artists are unlike the objective camera lens , which records only a single instant and no more . In 1917 the American military designated American official war artists , who were sent to Europe to record the activities of the American Expeditionary Forces . In World War II , the Navy Combat Art Program ensured that active - duty artists developed a record of all phases of the war and all major naval operations . The official war artist continued to be supported in some military engagements . Teams of soldier - artists during the Vietnam War created pictorial accounts and interpretations for the annals of army military history . Since 1992 the Army Staff Artist Program was attached to the United States Army Center of Military History as a permanent part of the Museum Division ' s Collections Branch . The majority of combat artists of the 1970s were selected by George Gray , chairman of NACAL , Navy Air Cooperation and Liaison committee . Some of their paintings will be selected for the Navy Combat Art Museum in the capital by Charles Lawrence , director . ( Hickok , 1978 ) In January 1978 the U . S . Navy chose a seascape specialist team : they asked Patricia Yaps and Wayne Dean , both of Milford , Connecticut , to capture air - sea rescue missions off of Key West while they were based at the nearby Naval Air Station Key West . They were among 78 artists selected that year to create works of art depicting navy subjects . A select list of representative American artists includes : Vietnam era . Soldier Artist Participants in the U . S . Army Vietnam Combat Artists Program Australian . War artists have depicted all the conflicts in which Australians have been called to combat . The Australian tradition of " official war artists " started with the First World War . Artists were granted permission to accompany the Australian Imperial Force to record the activities of its soldiers . During the Second World War , the Australian War Museum , later called the Australian War Memorial , engaged artists . At the same time , the Australian Army , Royal Australian Navy , and Royal Australian Air Force appointed official war artist - soldiers from within their ranks . These embedded war artists have depicted the activities of Australian forces in Korea , Vietnam , East Timor , Afghanistan , and Iraq . The ranks of non - soldier artists like George Gittoes continue to create artwork which becomes a commentary on Australia ' s military actions in war . A select list of representative Australian artists includes : British . British participation in foreign wars has been the subject of paintings and other works created by Britain ' s war artists . Artwork like the 1688 painting , " The Fleet at Sea " by Willem van de Velde the Younger depict the Royal Navy in readiness for battle . The Ministry of Defence art cvollection includes many paintings showing battle scenes , particularly naval battles . Military art and portraiture has evolved along with other aspects of war . The British official war artists of the First World War created a unique account of that conflict . The British War Artists Scheme expanded the number of official artists and enlarged the scope of their activities during the Second War . Significant themes in the chronicle of twentieth - century wars have been developed by non - military , non - official , civilian artists . For example , society portraitist Arabella Dorman ' s paintings of wounded Iraq War veterans inspired her to spend two weeks with three regiments in different frontline areas : the Green Jackets at Basra Palace , the Queen ' s Own Gurkhas at Shaibah Logistics Base ten miles south - west of Basra , and the Queen ' s Royal Lancers in the Maysaan desert . In the field , Dorman drew quick charcoal portraits of the men she met . Returning to England , the sketches she made helped her use art to " evoke the emotions and psychological impact of war , " rather than depicting the " physical horror " of war . A select list of representative British artists includes : Canadian . Representative works by Canada ' s artists whose work illustrates and records war are gathered into the extensive collection of the Canadian War Museum . A few First World War paintings were exhibited in the Canadian Senate Chamber , and artists studied these works as a way of preparing to create new artworks in the conflict in Europe which expanded after 1939 . In the Second World War , Canada expanded its official art program ; Canadian war artists were a kind of journalist who lived the lives of soldiers . The work of non - official civilian artists also became part of the record of this period . Canada supported Canadian official war artists in both the First World War and the Second World War ; no official artists were designated during the Korean War . Among Canada ' s embedded artist - journalist teams was Richard Johnson , who was sent by the " National Post " to Afghanistan in 2007 and 2011 ; his drawings of Canadian troops were published and posted online as part of the series " Kandahar Journal " . A select list of representative Canadian artists includes : French . During the First World War , the work of artists depicting aspects of the military conflict were put on display in official war art exhibitions . In 1916 the Ministry of Beaux - Arts and the Ministry of War sponsored the Salon des Armées to show the work of the artists who had been mobilized . This one exhibition realized 60 , 000 francs . The proceeds supported needy artists at home and the disabled . New Zealand . War artists have been appointed by the government to supplement the record of New Zealand ’ s military history . The title of " war artist " changed to " army artist " when Ion Brown was appointed after the two world wars . Conservators at the National Art Gallery considered the collection to be of historic rather than artistic worth ; few were displayed . New Zealand ' s National Collection of War Art encompasses the work of artists who were working on commission for the Government as official war artists , while others created artworks for their own reasons . A select list of representative New Zealand artists includes :