- Howard Brodie
Howard Brodie is a renowned sketch artist best known for his
World War II combat sketches.Pre-war career
Brodie was born in
Oakland, California onNovember 18 ,1915 . He briefly attendedCalifornia School of Fine Arts ,San Francisco . WhenWorld War II started, Howard Brodie was a sports artist forThe San Francisco Chronicle . Brodie also enjoyed success as an illustrator of college football program covers.Combat sketches
He became one of Yank magazine's best-known artists during the war. He sketched everything from
Guadalcanal to theBattle of the Bulge and had an uncanny ability to capture the emotions of his subjects and record a scene with great attention to detail. He put himself in combat situations many times and received the Bronze Star.Courtroom sketches
After the war Brodie became a courtroom artist and recorded many famous trials, including those of the
Chicago Seven ,Charles Manson andGeneral Westmoreland , the Ruby trial and Senate Civil Rights Debates. He was also aCBS TV Artist-Correspondent. Brodie never fully severed his ties to the military and was a combat artist inKorea ,French Indochina , andVietnam . His works can be found in theLibrary of Congress .Famous works
One of the most famous works he produced for a cover of Yank Magazine was “Portrait of a Medic” He was acclaimed for the very emotional “Compassion.” One sketch which mostly went unnoticed appeared on the cover of Yank’s Continental Edition on
August 19 ,1945 issue. It showed an exhaustedG.I. dropping his rifle asWorld War II had just ended. Brodie's works are collected in "Drawing Fire: A Combat Artist at War Pacific Europe Korea Indochina Vietnam".External links
* [http://www.pbs.org/theydrewfire/artists/brodie.html They Drew Fire: Combat Artists of World War II: Howard Brodie]
* [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/soldiers'_story_5-27.html Online NewsHour interview with Brodie]
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