On the last day we made it to the League’s On
the Front Lines: Military Veterans at The Art Students League of New York.
Julio Girona, Farmer and Soldier, 1940, lithograph |
Besides the exhibition itself, curator Jillian
Russo included the names of 3751 men and 174 women who served in the
military and who either taught or studied at the League. Julio Girona and Edward Laning are among
them.
Edward Laning, Conte Biancamano, 1949, ink drawing |
The SS Conte Biancamano was an Italian ocean liner built in
Scotland in 1925. In 1941 she was seized
by the US Navy and used for military transport under the name USS Hermitage. In
1947 she was returned to the Italian Line; her last voyage was in 1960.