Americans, though not a warlike people, have produced some of the world's most formidable armies. They have also commemorated them, from the Revolution to World War II, in some remarkable martial paintings.
For the first time, an inclusive exhibition of those paintings was shown last week in Washington's National Gallery of Art. "American Battle Paintings 1776-1918" (116 pictures) was organized by Critic Lincoln Kirstein and the National Gallery's Mrs. Margaret Garrett, jointly sponsored by the National Gallery and Manhattan's Museum of Modern Art, where it will be shown next fall.
The exhibition was arranged chronologically, classified by wars. The Revolution—"sparsely documented"—produced few paintings....
