Art
Collection Page
Art
Collection PageThese artistic representations of the battle of Midway are an important supplement for the historical record of the event. Because the two opposing fleets never came face to face, a number of significant incidents of the battle are unrecorded, and these artworks help fill the gaps. Derived from eyewitness accounts and official photographs, these images are prime examples of what the public was given to visualize this historic encounter.
Midway Island
Map
Griffith Baily Coale
#23
Oil on canvas, circa 1942
88-188-W
Sand
Fort Island, Midway
Griffith
Baily Coale #27
Oil on canvas, 1942
88-188-AA
Coral sand, bright against the deep backdrop of the Pacific sky
and sea. The entrance to a mounded shelter is in the foreground.
At the left just out of the picture is the big sand covered pier.
PTs
and Zeros
Griffith
Baily Coale #32
Oil on canvas, 1942
88-188-AF
On the brightly colored waters of the lagoon, the PT's are skimming
about, darting here dodging there, maneuvering between the rows
of machine gun splashes, incessantly firing their twin pairs 50
caliber guns.
AA Gunners, PT Boats
Griffith
Baily Coale #30
Charcoal, circa 1942
88-188-AD
Navy Gunners firing their 50 caliber guns, send their bright stream of tracers aloft at a Zero as another Zero dives in flames into the lagoon.
The Battle of Midway
Robert
Benny #7
Oil on canvas, circa 1943
88-159-AL
A month after striking in the Coral Sea, the Japanese launched
an all-out assault against Midway Island in what was obviously
intended as the first step of a grand attack upon Hawaii and continental
United States. The Navy was ready, and the heroic pilots from
naval aircraft carriers inflicted a major sea defeat upon two
great converging forces northwest of Midway. The enemy lost four
aircraft carriers, at least two heavy cruisers, and a number of
light cruisers, destroyers and transport - all by aerial attack.
The artist here depicts a withering attack upon a Japanese cruiser
by Navy dive-bombers with a fighter escort.
Dive Bombing Japanese Carriers
Griffith
Baily Coale #34
Oil on canvas, circa 1942
88-188-AH
In the foreground the Kaga passes across the picture with
the planes she sought so hard to launch caught on her deck like
birds in a nest, helpless against the swooping eagles. At the
extreme left the carrier Akagi is sending up billowing
smoke, as towering columns of water geyser up around her. The
carrier Soryu is burning fiercely from stem to stern under
a cloud of mushrooming smoke. In the center a light cruiser's
stern rises up as she makes her final plunge. On the horizon 1000-pound
bombs have hit two battleships and both are begining to burn.
A zero trailing smoke dives into the sea.
This painting is based on the recollections of Ensign George Gay
of Torpedo 8, who watched the battle from the ocean after his
plane was shot down in the first wave against the Japanese.
Air Attack on Japanese Carriers
Griffith
Baily Coale #31
Charcoal & pastel, circa 1942
88-188-AE
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11 May 2009