Perspectives

Title: Argonne Forest 1918. This oil on canvas painting measures 18” by 24” and depicts a solitary soldier amidst the hellscape of devastation wrought on the battlefields of the First World War. Now 103 years in the past, the Meuse-Argonne offensive was a part of the endgame leading to the November 11th armistice. To this day it remains the deadliest battle in American history with over 350,000 casualties between all participants. The “shell-shock” of World War I would eventually lead to our understanding today of posttraumatic stress disorder. Of note, the newly discovered x-rays were used for the first time on a battlefield to identify bullet fragments in wounded soldiers during the Great War.