In early 1943 Reeves Lewenthal selected AAA artist Aaron Bohrod to be among the initial group of civilian artist-correspondents placed overseas in government-sponsored Army Art Units. Bohrod eagerly carried out his assignment, for “there was no contesting subject that had anywhere near this dramatic power.”

When the Congress withdrew its financial support for the program barely three months into Bohrod’s South Pacific stay, Lewenthal convinced Life mag¬azine to pick up the artist’s expenses and salary. This issue of Life, with a photograph of Bohrod on the cover, featured his paintings of devastation in England and Normandy, France. Although the artist appears to be surrounded by ruined structures in Europe, the photograph was staged in Chicago after his return.