U.S. ARMY ART SPOTLIGHT: Sidney Simon’s World War II Art

A New Perspective

By Sarah G. Forgey

Article published on: June 20, 2025 in the Summer 2025 Edition of Army History

Read Time: < 3 mins

The painting P.O.W.s at Bilibid Prison (February 1945) was part of the original collection of Simon’s artworks selected by the War Department Art Advisory Committee.

In 2023, the Army Museum Enterprise accepted a donation of forty-five artworks by World War II Army Artist Sidney A. Simon (1917–1997). Simon was a prominent twentieth-century American artist, best known for his war art and as a cofounder of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. He enlisted in the Army in 1942 and initially was assigned to a morale division at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. In March 1943, he was selected as a member of the Army’s War Art Unit and assigned to General Douglas MacArthur’s headquarters. Commissioned as a captain, Simon served in the Southwest Pacific Theater, covering numerous operations, including those in New Guinea and the Philippines. His most well-known war painting is a watercolor representation of the formal Japanese surrender, which he witnessed aboard the USS Missouri.

At the end of their time in service, each member of the World War II War Art Unit submitted photos and titles of their works of art to the War Department Art Advisory Committee, which reviewed the submissions and decided whether to accept or reject each piece. The art accepted by the committee became the first acquisitions into what is now known as the Army Art Collection. The original collection included thirty-one works of art by Simon that were accepted by the committee in 1945. Many of the works of art included in the 2023 donation had been rejected by the War Art Advisory Committee, but others are works that the artist never submitted.

Several artworks in the 2023 donation provide important context to works already in the collection. For example, the War Department Art Advisory Committee had accepted the painting P.O.W.s at Bilibid Prison in 1945. The 2023 donation included a preliminary sketch for the painting and a study of the central figure. The donation also included a second version of the painting, which is missing two figures that appear in the original P.O.W.s in Bilibid Prison—the figure on crutches on the lefthand side and the person lying in the foreground. Titled Bilibid Prison #2, this painting appears to be the artist’s second version of the scene. Interestingly, it contains less detail than the first version of the painting, suggesting that the artist was experimenting with the emotional impact of including fewer figures. Removing these two figures simplifies the composition but reduces the emotional impact of the scene. Ultimately, the artist must have preferred the first, more detailed version of the painting that he submitted to the War Department. Together for the first time since their creation during the war, these four artworks provide insight into the artist’s working process.

In another case, it was, surprisingly, the less detailed artwork that was accepted by the War Department Art Advisory Committee in 1945. This drawing, titled Medical Officers Listening to a Broadcast, was joined in 2023 by a second version of the same scene, titled Guadalcanal Officers’ Quarters. On their own, each title tells a different story about the events depicted in the artwork. Both drawings depict a group of soldiers seated in a tent and engaged in various individual activities. The title of the first piece establishes these men as medical officers and informs the viewer that the group is gathered to listen to a radio broadcast, whereas the title of the second piece establishes the location as Guadalcanal but does not identify the officers as medical personnel or give any details about their activities. When considering the two works together, viewers gain a more comprehensive understanding of the scene: they learn that the soldiers are medical officers, that the scene is set in their quarters and located in Guadalcanal, and that they are listening to a radio broadcast.

Sidney Simon’s World War II artwork is an important part of the Army’s collection of art depicting the Pacific Theater during World War II. The 2023 donation provided pivotal insights into both the artist’s working process and the work of the War Department Art Advisory Committee and offers a valuable opportunity to look more closely at the quantity and quality of war art produced by other World War II artists and the overall scope of the program. Research and communication with the artists’ families may provide further insight into how other war artists worked and what they may have produced beyond the pieces retained for the collection.

Rice and Freedom (ca. 1943), a preliminary sketch for the painting P.O.W.s at Bilibid Prison, was part of the 2023 donation to the Army Museum Enterprise.

Medical Officers Listening to a Broadcast, Sidney Simon, 3 April 1943

Guadalcanal Officers’ Quarters, Sidney Simon, ca. 1943

Simon witnessed the formal Japanese surrender on the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945. The War Department Art Advisory Committee accepted his Surrender Aboard U.S.S. Missouri later that same year.