American Expeditionary Forces Art

Collage of photos and objects related to women's service during World War One

The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), commanded by General John Pershing, were the armed forces that the United States sent to Europe during World War I.  Because the American troops needed training, very few made it over to Europe before 1918.  Most of the AEF fought alongside Allied troops in France, but a small number served on the Italian front as well.

The AEF had 8 official artists who documented its activities during the war: William James Alyward, Walter Jack Duncan, Harvey Thomas Dunn, George Matthews Harding, Wallace Morgan, Ernest Clifford Peixotto, J. André Smith, and Harry Everett Townsend.  The artwork produced by these artists offers a vivid glimpse of the horrors and destruction of World War I and its devastating effects in Europe.  It also gives a window into AEF movements, activities, locations, and its involvement in the local war effort.  Some of the AEF art highlighted in this section shows women actively contributing to the war effort—making nets and camouflage, working in salvage depots, etc.  However, the artwork also shows women as civilians in war, both as innocent bystanders and as firsthand victims of the war.  These different roles in which women appear highlight the many ways that women were involved in and experienced World War I.

The War Department transferred the official AEF artwork to the Smithsonian in January 1920.

 

Further Resources

Alfred Cornebise, Art from the Trenches: America’s Uniformed Artists in World War I (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2015).

Records of the American Expeditionary Forces (World War I), 1848-1942, National Archives and Records Administration.

Smithsonian Collections Search Center: "Official Art from the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I."

Gene Burkett and Jan Hodges' series on World War I AEF Art:

Search term: *:* Place: Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Clear All

Making Nets and Camouflage Material

Charcoal and ink wash sketch on blue-gray paper. Women are making nets and camouflage material in a large tent-like structure in Dijon, France. The structure appears to be fortified with sand bags at one end.
Description
Charcoal and ink wash sketch on blue-gray paper. Women are making nets and camouflage material in a large tent-like structure in Dijon, France. The structure appears to be fortified with sand bags at one end. There is a label attached to the bottom center of the sketch that reads: "MAKING NETS AND CAMOUFLAGE MATERIAL/Central Camouflage Depot at Dijon/BY E. PEIXOTTO/TRANSFERRED FROM THE WAR DEPARTMENT/3004."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1918
associated date
1917-1918
associated person
War Department
artist
Peixotto, Ernest Clifford
ID Number
AF.25846
catalog number
25846
accession number
64592

Tressing Nets for Artillery Emplacements

Charcoal and ink wash sketch on paper. A group of women, some standing on benches, are making camouflage nets at the Central Camouflage Depot in Dijon, France.
Description
Charcoal and ink wash sketch on paper. A group of women, some standing on benches, are making camouflage nets at the Central Camouflage Depot in Dijon, France. These nets were made of pieces of painted burlap tied to wire and were used to disguise artillery positions.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1918
associated person
War Department
artist
Peixotto, Ernest Clifford
ID Number
AF.25893
catalog number
25893
accession number
64592

The Paint Shop

Ink wash sketch on paper. Interior scene of a building with exposed rafters; barrels grouped and stacked in various places. Women working on the left. A soldier stands among some barrels on the right.
Description
Ink wash sketch on paper. Interior scene of a building with exposed rafters; barrels grouped and stacked in various places. Women working on the left. A soldier stands among some barrels on the right. The catalog card reads "Sketch showing the paint shop in the central American camouflage depot at Dijon."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1918
associated person
War Department
artist
Peixotto, Ernest Clifford
ID Number
AF.25883
catalog number
25883
accession number
64592

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