In the wake of last month’s publication of the feature, Art of the Luftwaffe, by popular demand, we have researched another Luftwaffe sketch artist — here published together in a single gallery in what is likely the first time in history. As with the other artists featured last month, Walter Schmidt-Effenberger’s work is primarily focused on the machines of war — fighters and bombers — and the men on both sides who fought the conflict. As with the other Luftwaffe artists, his are sketch book drawings in charcoal on paper.
The Sketches of Walter Schmidt-Effenberger
Walter Schmidt-Effenberger’s art is imbued with drama and depicts the victims of conflict as well as aircraft at work in war. His sketches cover the Eastern Front as well as maritime operations of the Luftwaffe and the Rescue service. The artist’s style is heavy in its use of visual metaphor, as with his drawing of a British bomber pilot is depicted in dramatic terms on the beach with the tail of his Vickers Wellington drawn in the background as a cross-like cemetery marker. Nonetheless, Schmidt-Effenberger has a fine hand and good clean style. If somewhat dated to modern tastes, such extremes were a common artistic approach in propaganda drawings during the dark days of World War II.
Click to the left at bottom center on the “-” — the minus symbol — to view photos full screen.