ARTWORK BY USMC COMBAT ARTIST RICHARD JOHNSON  

Marine Corps Combat Art Program

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.
    
         “Go to war, do art.” 
           Brigadier General Robert Denig, 1942
 
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.

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.

USMC Combat Artists

Capt "CJ" Baumann

SSgt Elize McKelvey

Richard Johnson

Victor Juhasz