Combat Art Gallery
The Joe Bonham Project--We are not our wounds
The Joe Bonham Project is a collection of portraits depicting wounded service members fighting their own wars - the aftereffects of combat - when they come home.
The Project, named after Joe Bonham, the fictional WWI soldier who lost all of his limbs and facial features in Dalton Trumbo’s 1938 anti-war novel, “Johnny Got His Gun,” uses art to document the experiences of service members who have catastrophic injuries yet want to be seen as more than their wounds.
In 2011, a group of artists made the decision to use their talents to illustrate the tenacity and resilience behind the warrior façade. The result is an often “in your face” look at the ugliness of war and the beauty of humanity.
The project will be on display in the Museum’s Combat Art Gallery through March 29, 2020.
The Marine Corps Combat Art Program
“Go to war, do art.”
Brigadier General Robert Denig, 1942
The Museum’s Marine Corps Combat Art Gallery opened July 2017. The gallery features changing exhibitions of the Museum’s combat art collection or related collections on loan from others.
The Marine Corps Combat Art Program traces its origins to 1942. Its mission: Keep Americans informed about what “their Marines” are doing at home and overseas. Managed today by the National Museum of the Marine Corps, the collection has grown to include more than 9,000 works of art created by 350 artists.
Honor, courage, and commitment are the basic principles embraced by all Marines. Along with a dose of gritty realism, those principles are reflected in the combat art collection. Brigadier General Denig’s simple guidance—“Go to war, do art.”—still applies today. Talented active duty Marines, Reservists, and civilian artists document Marine Corps life on the battlefront and while training for battle, during humanitarian missions, and on the home front. The collection’s strength rests on the authentic and unvarnished focus these works have on the human condition under the most trying of circumstances.
“Go to war, do art.”
Brigadier General Robert Denig, 1942
The Museum’s Marine Corps Combat Art Gallery opened July 2017. The gallery features changing exhibitions of the Museum’s combat art collection or related collections on loan from others.
The Marine Corps Combat Art Program traces its origins to 1942. Its mission: Keep Americans informed about what “their Marines” are doing at home and overseas. Managed today by the National Museum of the Marine Corps, the collection has grown to include more than 9,000 works of art created by 350 artists.
Honor, courage, and commitment are the basic principles embraced by all Marines. Along with a dose of gritty realism, those principles are reflected in the combat art collection. Brigadier General Denig’s simple guidance—“Go to war, do art.”—still applies today. Talented active duty Marines, Reservists, and civilian artists document Marine Corps life on the battlefront and while training for battle, during humanitarian missions, and on the home front. The collection’s strength rests on the authentic and unvarnished focus these works have on the human condition under the most trying of circumstances.
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Artist Studio
In addition to the Combat Art Gallery, the Museum opened an art studio in 2017. Located behind the art gallery, the studio provides space for combat artists to practice their skills and to create art. Visit our Artist Studio at the Museum and see combat artists in action on the 2nd Saturday of every month!
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Museum Deputy Director Charlie Grow painting in the Museum's Artist Studio
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Admission and parking are FREE. Hours are 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM every day, except Christmas Day.
National Museum of the Marine Corps
18900 Jefferson Davis Highway Triangle, VA 22172 Toll Free: 1.877.653.1775
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