Walter Jack Duncan
Encyclopedia
Walter Jack Duncan was a war artist
for the United States Army
during World War I
.
, Indiana. He lived there with his family, which included a number of prominent actors, until he finished high school. Upon graduation, along with a writer-artist friend, Robert Cortes Holliday, he moved to New York to study at the Art Students' League under the prominent landscape artist John H. Twachtman. After three years at the League, Duncan began his long career of magazine illustration with Century Magazine. Some of his other magazine credits included Scribner's, McClure's Magazine, and Harper's. His varied illustration assignments before the war had given him the opportunity to travel abroad to Canada and England. He also spent time in the backwoods of Kentucky drawing the descendants of Daniel Boone
in their natural habitat.
Like William James Aylward
's, much of Duncan's wartime effort focused on the support activities of the AEF
. He traveled from the ports to the battlefield producing detailed works that recorded some of the less glamorous, but essential aspects of modern warfare. Much of his work reflects the influence of his studying under a landscape artist.
Duncan's favorite medium was pen and ink, and he especially liked producing illustrations for books. His work in that medium earned him the accolade of "wizard of pen and ink" from contemporary artists. During his career he became associated with a number of writers, working closely with them to illustrate their books. After the war he illustrated a number of Christopher Morley
's books, including Plum Pudding and Pipefuls.
War artist
A war artist depicts some aspect of war through art; this might be a pictorial record or it might commemorate how "war shapes lives." War artists have explored a visual and sensory dimension of war which is often absent in written histories or other accounts of warfare.- Definition and context:A...
for the United States Army
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...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Biography
Walter Jack Duncan was born in IndianapolisIndianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
, Indiana. He lived there with his family, which included a number of prominent actors, until he finished high school. Upon graduation, along with a writer-artist friend, Robert Cortes Holliday, he moved to New York to study at the Art Students' League under the prominent landscape artist John H. Twachtman. After three years at the League, Duncan began his long career of magazine illustration with Century Magazine. Some of his other magazine credits included Scribner's, McClure's Magazine, and Harper's. His varied illustration assignments before the war had given him the opportunity to travel abroad to Canada and England. He also spent time in the backwoods of Kentucky drawing the descendants of Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...
in their natural habitat.
Like William James Aylward
William James Aylward
William James Aylward was a war artist for the United States Army during World War I.-Biography:Aylward was born September 5, 1875 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and developed an early interest in things nautical because his father built and owned Great Lakes ships. Much of the work from his early career...
's, much of Duncan's wartime effort focused on the support activities of the AEF
AEF
AEF is a three-letter acronym which may refer to:* Aboriginal Evangelical Fellowship, Australia* Afrique Équatoriale Française or French Equatorial Africa* Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation* Air Experience Flight* Alameda Education Foundation...
. He traveled from the ports to the battlefield producing detailed works that recorded some of the less glamorous, but essential aspects of modern warfare. Much of his work reflects the influence of his studying under a landscape artist.
Duncan's favorite medium was pen and ink, and he especially liked producing illustrations for books. His work in that medium earned him the accolade of "wizard of pen and ink" from contemporary artists. During his career he became associated with a number of writers, working closely with them to illustrate their books. After the war he illustrated a number of Christopher Morley
Christopher Morley
Christopher Morley was an American journalist, novelist, essayist and poet. He also produced stage productions for a few years and gave college lectures.-Biography:Christopher Morley was born in Haverford, Pennsylvania...
's books, including Plum Pudding and Pipefuls.