Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/04/04
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]"Perseverate away my boys, perseverate away!" Oh wait that's the Navy. FF airmen were Army (pre-Air Force) yes? Anyway the painting of the B-17 is fabulous! It's a style of art --sort of commercial illustrator style of the late 20's to the early 50s, I'd call it -- that I love and that I don't think has ever been properly appreciated except by readers of the Hardy Boys etc etc. the style is marked by a (for me) galvanizing comination of breathtaking realism and surreal vividness -- what your dslr menu calls saturation I guess -- Norman Rockwell with cujones. But it is so strongly commercial looking and accessible that it's never taken very seriously. I guess it's one of my artistic guilty pleasures. Vince On Sun, Apr 4, 2010 at 1:32 PM, Lawrence Zeitlin <lrzeitlin at gmail.com>wrote: > I hate to perseverate on the WW2 theme but this is unlike any of the other > posts. > > Yesterday I attended the 87th birthday of John Sekelsky, one of the last > surviving airmen who flew Flying Fortresses over Germany during the war. > During the height of the hostilities as many as 1000 B-17s, each carrying a > crew of 10 men, would fly in a single raid. Of the 20,000 or more airmen > who > flew these planes, only a handful are still alive. John is one of the > fortunate ones. > > Unlike many of the combat vets, mostly foot soldiers, who are reluctant to > talk about wartime experiences, the former airmen are quite verbal. John is > a talented painter and painted pictures of many of his most memorable > experiences - at least as he remembers them. > > > Here is John greeting guests at his party, glass in hand. > > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/John+Sekelsky.JPG.html > > > He was part of the entertainment too. > > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/Sekelsky+and+accordian.JPG.html > > > A painting of his B-17 on fire returning from a raid on Berlin. > > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/Burning+B-17.JPG.html > > > Larry Z > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >