War Artists: ‘Quaint’ British Tradition

Britain’s official war artist is following his country’s forces into the Persian Gulf armed with sketchbook and camera.

“It is one of those quaint British traditions . . . sending artists to a war zone,” said John Keane, whose work includes paintings of the Nicaraguan conflict and violence in Northern Ireland.

Keane has received a $19,000 commission from the Imperial War Museum in London to go to the gulf and add to the museum’s collection of 12,000 war paintings.