United States Army Art Program The U . S . Army Art Program or United States Army Combat Art Program is a program created by the United States Army to create artwork for museums and other programs sponsored by the US Army . The collection associated with the program is held by the United States Army Center of Military History , as part of their Museums collection . History . The Army ' s official interest in art originated in World War I when eight artists ( see the list at ) were commissioned as captains in the Corps of Engineers and were sent to Europe to record the activities of the American Expeditionary Forces . At the end of the war most of the team ' s artwork went to the Smithsonian Institution , which at that time was the custodian of Army historical property and art . There was no Army program for acquiring art during the interwar years , but with the advent of World War II the Corps of Engineers , drawing on its World War I experience , established a War Art Unit in early 1943 . The Associated American Artists helped the Army recruit artists and the War department established a War Art Advisory Committee , a select group of civilian art experts , who selected artists to work in the program . By the spring of 1943 the committee had selected 42 artists : 23 active duty military and 19 civilians . These artists included Reginald Marsh , Jack Levine , Joe Jones , Mitchell Siporin , Aaron Bohrod , and Henry Vernum Poor . The first artists were sent to the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II , but in May 1943 Congress withdrew funding from the program and the War Art Unit was inactivated . The Army assigned the military artists to other units and released the civilians . The effort to create a visual record of the American military experience in World War II was then taken up by the private sector in two different programs , one by " Life magazine " and one by Abbott Laboratories , a large medical supply company . When " Life " offered to employ civilian artists as war correspondents , the War Department agreed to provide them the same support already being given to print and film correspondents . Seventeen of nineteen civilians artists who had been selected by the War Art Committee joined " Life " as war correspondents . A deal was struck between , then editor of " Life " , Daniel Longwell and the Secretary of War for the artists to receive the same treatment as news correspondents . Abbott , in coordination with the Army ' s Office of the Surgeon General , commissioned twelve artists to record the work of the Army Medical Corps . These two programs resulted in a wide range of work by distinguished artists who had the opportunity to observe the war firsthand . By the end of World War II the Army had acquired over 2 , 000 pieces of art . In June 1945 the Army established a Historical Properties Section to maintain and exhibit this collection , thus creating the nucleus of today ' s Army art Collection . On 7 December 1960 , " Life " also presented 1 , 050 works by its own correspondents to the Defense Department , many which the Army later received . In 1947 , the Army Art program also assumed custody of 8 , 000 German war art , created by similar Nazi programs , including four architectural renderings by Adolf Hitler . Official Army Art Program . War art continued through subsequent wars , including the Korean War , Vietnam War , Desert Storm / Desert Shield and the Global War on Terrorism as well as other operations by the Army . Although no official artists were forwarded to Korea by the Army , nine combat artists teams operated in Vietnam from 1966 – 1970 as part of the U . S . Army Vietnam Combat Artists Program . The Chief of Military History , developed the Army Art Program as it is today , with specialized training for both civilian and military artists who went into the field as complete units . , the Army Art collection comprises over 15 , 500 works of art from over 1 , 300 artists . The Army Staff Artist Program was assigned to the United States Army Center of Military History , Museum Division in 1992 and where it has been established as a permanent part of the Museum Division ' s Collections Branch . Public showings . In September 2010 the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia , PA will host an exhibit entitled " Art of the American Soldier " featuring more than 300 works from the army art collection , one of the first times that the Army Art from the Army Art Program has been put on display en masse . In addition to the 300 works , soldier / artists were also given the opportunity to submit works to be part of digital kiosks at the exhibit . The exhibit was designed to contain highly realistic works , such as those of U . S . Army artist , Master Sergent Martin Cervantez . Cervantez commented on his pieces on display in Reuters on the nature of the exhibit " If a soldier takes his family to the museum , I want them to be able to say , ' That ' s what it was like . ' " References . < nowiki > < / nowiki > See also Harrington , Peter . ’ The 1943 War Art Program ’ , " Army History " No . 55 ( Spring - Summer 2002 ) , 4 - 19 .