Claggett Wilson (1887-1952) was one of America's first "Modernist" painters. A teacher of painting and drawing at Columbia University, New York City, he enlisted in the Marine Corp in 1917, soon after the US entered the First world War. A 2nd Lt., Wilson served in the 2nd (Indian Head ) Division as Brigade HQ chief, and later as aide-de-camp to BG Wendell Neville. He was wounded twice, and was awarded the Navy Cross, Silver Star, and Croix de Guerre.

     While on Army of Occupation duty near Coblenz, Germany, in 1919, he painted numerous scenes of what he saw and felt of the "War to End All Wars" including those displayed on this web page. Famed "NY Times" drama critic Alexander Woolcott, a former WW1 "Stars and Stripes" reporter, published twenty-four of them in book form, in The War Paintings of Claggett Wilson, 1928. Although the Marine Corp had no official artists in WW1, Claggett Wilson is regarded as one of their finest.

     After the war, Wilson began a career and became famous as a stage designer, and mural painter, in NYC. His paintings hang in several museums, inclluding the famous Metropolitan, in NYC.

Official website detailing the
life and art of Lieutenant Claggett Wilson
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