Fort Belvoir makes plans to host "Art of the American Soldier"

Mark Brighton

In feudal Japan, the samurai warrior class trained both in battle tactics and the predominant art forms of the day with the idea of creating a more balanced and worldly individual and a more confident and capable soldier. While modern warrior training may have done away with the artistic curriculum, that doesn't mean that soldiers have stopped practicing art - and a newly established art expo is hoping to make a permanent resident at Fort Belvoir by 2013.

The Art of the American Soldier, in its current incarnation, is a travelling collection of 250 paintings and sketches of American soldiers put together by the Army center of Military History and the National Museum of the Army - the latter of which is planning on introducing a devoted facility to the collection at Fort Belvoir within the next three years.

According to the military press, the collection actually boasts 15,000 pieces of soldier-created artwork - some of which has never been shown to the public. Pieces date as far back as the First World War, and illustrate the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of military life both in battle and at home.

"It's my experience that I'm putting on canvas," soldier and artist Sergeant Martin J. Cervantez told the news provider. "I don't work from anyone else's photos or sketches, though I do sketch while I'm in the field, but security dictates what I can do out there."

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