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Home Town Kensington, Maryland
Date of Passing Feb 14, 1976
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Last Known Activity:
Lieutenant Mitchell Jamieson Combat Artist and Illustrator (1915 - 1976)
Mitchell Jamieson: One of the country’s foremost watercolor artists, Jamieson was born in Kensington, Maryland, attended Central High School,. He graduated the Abbott School of Fine and Commercial Arts and the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. In the 1930s, he traveled to Key West and the Virgin Islands to paint under the Treasury Department's Art Project, and received commissions to paint murals for post offices in Upper Marlboro and Laurel, Maryland; Willard, Ohio; and at the Interior Building in Washington, D.C.
Upon the onset of World War II, Jamieson was, once again, commissioned to paint; however, this time, he was requested to paint defense activities. Jamieson completed such works at the Glenn L. Martin Aviation Plant near Baltimore, Maryland. Thereafter, he was commissioned an Ensign with the U. S. Naval Reserve, and went on to matriculate at the Indoctrination School in Newport, Rhode Island.
He began his duty in 1942 as an official combat artist where he was assigned to serve in North Africa, there he would continue to graphically depict war scenes, especially that of the U. S. Navy.
He depicted the North African campaigns, invasion of Sicily, and the invasion at Normandy, were Lieutenant Jamieson crossed the channel on D-Day on the deck of an LST and went ashore with one of the first demolition units. He was also at the Battle of Iwo Jima and the Japanese surrender on board the U.S.S. Missouri. Jamieson was awarded the Bronze Star by the U.S. Navy for his work. His combat paintings were reproduced extensively in Life, and Fortune magazine. Jamieson's works have also been represented at the Phillips Memorial Gallery, are in collections at the White House, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Seattle Art Museum.
Jamieson said of his Navy combat art experience “I have confined my paintings to what I have experienced and know to be strictly true, at the same time having to adapt my way of working to the pressure of time and swift-moving events. Yet anything that is worthwhile or that has the bite of reality in the work produced under these circumstances probably derives from a constant effort to share as fully as possible in the lives and experiences of others”.
Jamieson documented the surrender of Japan, Tokyo Bay, 2 September 1945, on board USS Missouri (BB-63) during the surrender ceremonies. After a brief stay with occupation forces he returned home in late September to his private practice.
In addition to his renderings for NASA of Apollo recoveries, Jamieson covered Mercury missions as well as a Saturn launch. Jamieson volunteered as a civilian artist for the U.S. Army in Vietnam. This effort took an enormous toll from which he was not to recover. In 1976 he took his own life.
Jamieson was twice awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Award of Merit by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Other Comments:
1942-1944, Fleet Public Affairs Center Atlantic (FPACLANT)
