Steve Budlong, Jim McGillion and myself have been working for quite a while now on a new documentary film. Our first effort, See You In Hell, Blind Boy won "Best Feature Documentary" at the New York International Independent Film Festival a few years ago, and has been showing recently on the Starz Network. Our new film is about artist Harvey Dunn and his work illustrating the First World War for America.

Harvey Dunn was a student of Howard Pyle (the father of American Illustration) and close friend of N.C. Wyeth. Dunn was one of the premier illustrators of the Golden Age of illustration, and also became an influential teacher (Dean Cornwell studied under him. It was said that "Cornwell wasn't Cornwell until he was Dunn). I've been a fan for years and years and love everything he did. But I have always been most influenced by his work done in the trenches during the First World War. The work is incredibly powerful (as all his work was) and gave a face to the soldiers fighting that war. He was not a dispassionate observer, but got down in the mud with those men.

Eight artists were chosen by a committee that included in its membership such notables as James Montgomery Flagg and Charles Dana Gibson, among others. Six of the eight were students of Howard Pyle. Harvey Dunn, Ernest Peixotto, George Harding, Wallace Morgan, Townsend, Aylward,

Our first shoot was at The Illustration House with Walt Reed. Walt is one of the great historians of illustration, and was once a student of the great pen and ink artist Franklin Booth, and was on the staff of the Famous Artists school. We spent the day with Walt and got some incredible footage. He had spoken with Richard Kelly of the Kelly Collection of Golden Age Illustration, who overnighted two beautiful oils for us to use as backdrops for the shoot. One was an oversized Harvey Dunn oil of two doughboys, sappers I believe, walking toward the viewer. This piece had been an American Legion cover in the early 1920's. The color was impressive and the thick paint had the robust attack that Dunn was famous for. His use of optical mixtures in this piece was fantastic.

The second piece was a Dean Cornwell, about two-thirds the size of the Dunn, and painted in the Dunn style. A beautiful work also. A nurse and an angel are embracing before a wounded doughboy. The light in this piece was exquisite, a wonderful glow to the piece.

Also on hand were pieces from Illustration House. These included Harvey Dunn drawings and sketchbooks, Townsend lithographs and sketches, Aylward drawings, as well as pieces by Frank Brangwyn and others. It was a pretty memorable shoot.

Our next shoot was at the Smithsonian Institution, down in the belly of the place where they do their archival work. We were privileged to watch an art conservator at work on the Harvey Dunn work from the First World War. These pieces had not been removed from their drawers since the 1920's.

I had only seen some of these pieces in print, and then only in black and white. They were large pieces, on full sheets of Arches heavy weight cold press watercolor paper. Charcoal and watercolor, and every once in awhile oils on top of that. Absolutely stunning work. These pieces have lived large in my memory since I was a kid. They have helped shape how I see that war. And there they were in the flesh.

As if that were not enough the Smithsonian also had Harvey Dunn's drawing box, which he had specially made for his work in the trenches. The box was worn around the neck like a cigarette vendor of old. The box held a roll of paper inside which was fed through a window in the face of the box. Dunn would draw and then crank small handles on the side next to his body to feed a new clean section into the window. The box was in perfect shape and they even had three or four of the actual rolls he worked on while over there.

These rolls were about 13 feet long and, even though they had smoke damage on the outside of them due to a fire years ago at the Smithsonian, they were in wonderful condition, the paper still pliable. These we unrolled on the long tables for that purpose and ogled the work. Each piece on the roll was like looking through a window into that time. These were also charcoal and sometimes watercolor, loosely drawn, yet entirely clear in their focus. Doughboys running through wheat fields, firing huge cannons, etc. A rare treat.

We've had many other shoots as well, in New York, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, etc. I hope to keep you informed on the progress of this new documentary as it matures. Also, I hope to post some images of the work from these brilliant artists as well.