Military Fun Art

Military fun art is the drawing of the humorous images of the military personnel or the military life scenes, for which punishment can sometimes be imposed. Sometimes such humor can cause the harmless laughter, and in the rare cases, a fight between the offended person and the artist. The subject of ridicule is the personal qualities of a serviceman, such as excess weight, a huge belly or a large appetite, or violation of official duties by a group of people. They usually laugh at their friends, the same soldiers, less often at the officers, and very rarely at the generals. Military cheerful artists were usually not the professionals; a drawing was a hobby. This art developed in the countries where there was a compulsory military service among the soldiers subject to transfer to the reserve. Caricature drawings combined with the photographs were a good memory of the service and were pasted into a photo album. In France, there were the cartoonists at the Saint-Cyr Military School and the Cavalry School in the city of Saumur (Loire Valley). In the US, there were artists at the leading military academies – West Point, the Navy and the Air Force Academy. A special place is occupied by the military artists in Russia and the USSR. Before the revolution, military education in Russia had three degrees: primary (cadet corps – like a college), secondary (a higher school – like a university) and higher (academy). In the cadet corps, drawing was a compulsory subject of training, since each scout must draw from memory the face of a person he met, a military base or fortress, as well as a coastline at sea or a terrain profile on land. In addition to compulsory training in the art of drawing, the “traditions” of the cadet corps or military school contributed. In every cadet corps, informal traditions existed, sometimes violating military laws.
to be continued..