Art Gallery
1st Battalion, 50th Infantry Association

Art in War!

Art and war have long been associated together. Some of the earliest cave art depicts scenes of battle, and most early civilizations glorified war and military heroes through art. Artists have also brought home the horrors of war, and Picasso's 1937 classic Guernica clearly stands out in that category, especially with its hidden dark imagry.

In the past, the United Army had relied primarily on civilian artists for artworks of men and machines at war, so early in 1966, the Army revived the Army Combat Artist Program (ACAP) and sent teams of volunteer soldier-artists to Vietnam to record US Army activities. Artwork produced by both civilian and soldier artists has been added to the Army War Art Collection as a permanent contribution to the annals of American military history.

Featured Vietnam War Art Collections

The Red Pony by Anonymous, captured by Thurman Pike, 1st Battalion (Mechanized), 50th Infantry It's probably fitting that our very first work of combat art is this color sketch taken from a Viet Cong soldier who had envisaged riding into combat astride a charging pony. He was ready to die for his cause, and we were ready and able to help him. Double-click on the sketch to see an enlargement. Press HERE for a full-size Adobe Acrobat PDF of the drawing (1,031 kB).

The Cave

by Ray Sarlin, 1970?

I thought I'd post this here to encourage anyone who draws to submit their work. I was given this sketch by an aunt who had found it among my mom's things after she passed away. I had sketched it during a black mood from a photo in a 173rd yearbook. Alas, the yearbook is now long gone.

Country Scene

by L. Trang, 1967

This image was scanned from a photo album cover purchased in Saigon in the Spring of 1967 by Jim Sheppard.