Assistance with Numerous pictures of German aviation and war

[Bencejones]

Gentlemen, I have had this "Sketchbook" for some time and was wondering if this is the appropriate thread to present the material in it. The writing is in German and the book contains a number of high-quality hand drawn pictures and drawings that appear to be of war scenes and mainly Stuka aircraft. I have spotted the word "Fallschirmjager" a number of times and wondered if the artist was somehow tied up with the Luftwaffe. I would appreciate any thoughts on the paintings and writings. As always, many thanks in advance.

[Anderson]

It's a very interesting sketchbook of pencil sketches and water colour paintings. Some research into the artist is needed, it could be a post war fantasy, but the sketches of ground crew at work on aircraft have the look of someone whose been there. Some scenes are from the air which may indicate an aircrew member with an artistic talent. May even be an official war artist (notice one sketch of a camera operator). But these are quality pictures and I would think have some value as art works alone.

[MAP]

Post war or war time....very cool sketches.

[Willmore]

Great piece, thanks for sharing it with us.

The funny thing is I started to translate some of the captions, but decided to put the artists name into a search engine and the following information came up.

Hans Liska (1907-1984) is one of the most well-known and prolific WWII Axis illustrators, who served with the German Armed Forces during the war. In 1942 and 1943 German publishing house Carl Werner in Reichenbach, sponsored by Junkers Flugzeug und Motorenwerke AG, published 2 albums with Hans Liska's sketches and color illustrations "to please the frontline soldiers and the workers of the weapon factories" in Germany. Definitely, Liska's art lived up to the expectations of his peers, and propaganda clichés left the well-recognizable footprints all over his painting and drawings. However, at the same time artist was also able to create something more valuable than NSDAP-commissioned propaganda poster for the crumbling wall of the neighborhood bakery in bombed-up German provincial town. Liska convincingly demonstrates that he has an eye for the real war drama, with all its pain, suffering, desperation, hard work, endurance, sense of duty, and courage for yet one more push to the utmost, which all participants are likely to share, no matter under what colors they fought and died. You can see the demonstrations in his work below. You can see the demonstrations in his work below. Hans Liska contributed timeless treasures into history when he put his life on the line during WWII.

World War II Sketches by Hans Liska

Third Reich Military Art: HANS LISKA -

PICTURES FROM HISTORY: Rare Images Of War, History , WW2, Nazi Germany: Third Reich Military Art: HANS LISKA

Hans Liska -

HansLiska

Hans Liska - Wikipedia

Kind regards,

Will.

[BlackCat1982]

I’ve also got a copy, it is a printed copy of some of Hans Liska’s sketches as Willmore has already posted links to.

[MAP]

So these are reprints of his sketches? At first I thought they were the originals.

Still. A very cool collection/book.

[BlackCat1982]

As the Liska site says there were books of sketches produced in 1942 and 1943 this appears to the one of those earlier books. I have the 1944 version of the sketchbook, which does include several of those sketches that appear in the earlier books. Herr Liska was an accomplished artist who was then a witness to the war as a war reporter. His career continued after the war.

[Bencejones]

Gentlemen, Thank you so much for your input and interest. Another lesson learned. Cheers Keith

[TWS]

I found the sketch of the louse to be an amusing point in favor of war time (at least to the origin of the sketches). Someone creating post-war fantasy sketches would not be in touch with the pernicious struggle that troops fought against those parasites.