During World War I, the U.S. Government’s Committee for Public Information employed artists, who followed troops into France with the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) during the war. Commissioned as officers in the Corps of Engineers, the artists were assigned to create artwork in a variety of media to show the war to Americans back home.
The artists were required to submit their work on a regular basis to the Army, as outlined in this document. Artwork was sent to the headquarters in France before being sent on to Washington D.C., where the incoming sketches were reviewed to determine if the artists were producing work that met the Army’s requirements.
