Fletcher snowballs
Happy first day of winter.
With that, how about this amazing watercolor painting by Edward T. Grigware titled “Scene Onboard Ship,” one you can almost feel if in a snowy area today.
It was painted in 1943 and depicts U.S. Navy sailors aboard two tied-up destroyers working in bone-numbing cold and snowy conditions, likely in the Alaska theater where Grigware, an official Navy artist, was deployed.
Painting, Watercolor on Paper; by Edward T. Grigware; 1943; Framed Dimensions 16H X 18W. Naval History and Heritage Command Accession #: 07-805-P
Grigware, born in 1889, was already a well-known American artist and illustrator before he moved from Chicago to Cody, Wyoming, in the 1930s. He attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and spent time working as a commercial artist.
During WWII, Grigware created poster art to support the war effort and painted pieces for the Navy, including the haunting work above.
Nice artwork on our winter solstice. Strictly speaking, the gun director atop the bridge indicates these destroyers are a pre-war class such as the Gridley class. Fletchers had mark 37 directors.