Monday, April 22, 2013

Ghost Army

Portrait of Bob Boyajian
  during WWll by Arthur B. Singer  

My father, Arthur Singer, was a well known wildlife artist who died in 1990, leaving behind a thousand paintings and illustrations and some wonderful watercolors made as far back as the late 1930's (some under very difficult circumstances).  From a naturalist's perspective he knew about the effectiveness of camouflage, the study of which coincidentally was pioneered by another bird artist - Abbott Thayer over a hundred years ago.

My father served his time in the U.S. Army with a battalion of other artists and their operations were keep totally secret.  What did these artists do during the war?  They contributed in many ways which will be revealed in a new documentary special to be aired on PBS this coming May 21st.  Watch for "The Ghost Army - Artists of Deception" on TV that night.

Timed to coincide with the broadcast, a new exhibition has opened this week for a month at The Edward Hopper House in Nyack, New York.  Featured there are some of my father's best watercolors from WWll    ( yes, he brought a set of watercolors to war and some fine Whatman paper too! ).  You can read a review that was just published in the New York Times for this show, here is the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/nyregion/a-review-of-artists-of-deception-at-edward-hopper-house-art-center-in-nyack.html?src=twr


Portrait by Arthur Singer