'Go to War, Do Your Art'
New Marine Corps museum gallery features combat artists' paintings.
By Cameron Delean
This article was republished with permission from FXBG Advance’s news partner InsideNoVa.com. Sign up for InsideNoVa.com’s free email subscription today.
Lining the walls of the art gallery on the second floor of The National Museum of the Marine Corps is the retelling of the Marine Corps history through artwork.
The museum in Triangle is about to open a temporary exhibition, “United States Marine Corps: 250 Years of Dedication, Determination and Courage,” featuring 91 original works of art honoring the Marine Corps. The exhibition opens to the public June 27.
Joan Thomas, curator of the gallery, started with over 3,000 pieces and said the process for narrowing down the final selection was careful and tedious.
“With our collections, whether it’s art or artifacts, we’re all about telling stories,” Thomas said. “The backstory behind some of these paintings is just incredible. You think of the time and effort that each of the artists put in. Whether it was something they were creating historically or if it was something they saw.”
Thomas said she wanted to ensure the pieces are cohesive and impactful.
“Regardless of the style they’re using, there is this sense of documentary nature, of telling a story,” Thomas added.
The works in the exhibit include oil and acrylic paintings, prints, pastels, mixed media works and sculptures. Each piece captures a unique facet of the Marine experience, depicting combat, camaraderie and service.
The gallery, which will be on display through next year, honors 250 years of history by showcasing how Marines have captured and preserved the corps story through art. The collection spans multiple eras, starting from the Revolutionary War, and offers a look into the experiences of Marines around the world.
“The artist has to go experience what they’re painting,” artist and Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Kristopher Battles told InsideNoVa. “I was on active duty at the time, so I went as a Marine and had my sketchbook and my camera.”
Battles has multiple works on display depicting his time in the Middle East.
“We have a motto, ‘Go to war, do your art.’ It's simplistic, but it's the way it is,” Battles said. “Several artists with different styles go and soak it in. They create while they’re there, but they also come back and do fine art.”
Joseph Winslow Jr., an artist and former Marine, was commissioned by the museum to create a piece of art. His sculpture depicts a Marine Corps fireteam clearing an insurgent position and weapons cache in Iraq in 2024.
“This piece was a conglomeration of many different times and things I was involved with,” Winslow told InsideNoVa. “I wanted to focus on the relationships between the Marines in this piece. There’s a lot of story in this.”
The exhibition is part of a larger initiative to commemorate the Marine Corps’ 250th birthday and further the museum’s mission to preserve and celebrate the corps' history and heritage.
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