George Matthews Harding

George Matthews Harding 1917

George Matthews Harding (born October 2, 1882 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , † 1959 ) was an American painter and illustrator who worked as a war painter in the First and Second World Wars .

Life

Born into a family of artists, George Matthews Harding was introduced to art at a young age and was particularly inspired by his sister Charlotte Harding, who was nine years older than him, who studied at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women . Driven by his sister, he began studying architecture in Boston. He later studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts while working as an architect in Philadelphia. Through his sister he met illustrator and author Howard Pyle , with whom he then worked.

Harding's first illustration appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1903, and in 1906 he began working as an illustrator and writer for Harper's Monthly Magazine . In the course of this activity he made many journeys and was sent on a world tour from 1912 to 1914 due to his success. In the course of this, Harding came into contact with the art of the Asian and Pacific regions, among other things, which strongly influenced his style. Upon his return, he took up a post at the University of Pennsylvania in 1915 while working on other projects in his studio. In 1916 he married Anita Cotheal, with whom he later had two children.

In February 1918, George Matthew Harding was selected by the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) along with seven other artists to be officially active as a war painter in France during World War I. His colleagues were William James Aylward , Walter Jack Duncan , Harvey Thomas Dunn , Wallace Morgan , Ernest Clifford Peixotto , J. André Smith and Harry Everett Townsend . Harding returned to his homeland in February 1919 and published an extensive collection of his war works of art that same year.

In 1922 Harding became head of the illustration department at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and stayed with the school until his retirement in 1958.

During the Second World War , Harding was the only one of the eight US war painters of the First World War to work again - this time as part of the United States Marine Corps (USMC).

George Matthews Harding died in 1959.

Works (selection)

This list contains some works by George Matthews Harding that were created during World War I.

image	title	description
	American wounded making way to first aid station in the village of Marne during German attac	In addition to the human sacrifices required by the war, Harding shows two innovations of the war in this picture: airplanes and barbed wire .
	Traffic to Mont-St. Pere	This work shows the chaos in the streets that was also present in the more remote areas.
	Traffic to Mont-St. Pere	It depicts the Second Battle of the Marne , during the advance of the American troops - observed from a higher part of the city.
	Between shells at Chateau Thierry	The picture shows soldiers under fire in the town of Château-Thierry , an important area for France to defend as it is only about 50 miles from Paris .
	American gun fire, opening of Verdun offensive	In September 1918, the US troops began the offensive in Verdun . The work shows the artillery fire at the start of the offensive in the early hours of the morning.
	American troops entering a village	This is a representation of the advancement of American soldiers along the Marne on July 13, 1918.
	German plane shooting two allied balloons	The work depicts a situation in Verdun in which a German plane lifted two Allied balloons from the sky in less than a minute.

literature

• Alfred Emile Cornebise: Art from the trenches. America's uniformed artists in World War I . Texas A&M University Press, Texas 2014, ISBN 978-0-89096-349-4 .

Web links

• Smithsonian Institution: George Matthews Harding 1882-1959 , accessed January 27, 2018
• US Army Center of Military History: George Matthews Harding 1882-1959 , accessed January 27, 2018
• Smithsonian Institution: American War Painters in World War I , accessed January 27, 2018
• US Army Center Of Military History: World War I Works , Retrieved March 18, 2018
• Unwritten Record Blog: A selection of Harding's works from the First World War , accessed on March 18, 2018

credentials

1. ^ Harding artist Smithsonian. Retrieved February 17, 2018 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Cornebise, Alfred Emile: Art from the trenches. America's uniformed artists in World War I, Texas: Texas A&M University Press. 2014
3. ↑ Harding career. Retrieved February 17, 2018 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b} U.S. Army Center of History. Retrieved March 18, 2018 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Unwritten Record Blog. Retrieved March 18, 2018 .