Artist Peter Hurd knew the excitement and danger of fighting for freedom.

During World War II, the New Mexico native worked as a correspondent for Life Magazine, where he had the opportunity to travel the world.

My father did many paintings that were featured in Life and Time Magazine, and some are hanging in the offices of the Pentagon, Michael Hurd said.

In 1942, Peter was stationed with the Eighth Air Force in England, where he painted out of airplanes sometimes in dangerous territory.

The quality of the pieces, many of which are beautifully done, happened during air raids and while they were being bombed, Michael said. Its like trying to perform brain surgery while bombs are going off in the hospital. It says a lot about how he was able to calm his nerves enough to create such beautiful paintings and drawings.

The Museum of Texas Tech will feature a display of the artists sketches during his time abroad. The Peter Hurd World War II Sketches and World War II Galleries Exhibits will begin Saturday with a reception honoring veterans from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

Kay Davis, organizer of the event, said Hurd created many small World War II sketches that are being loaned by his family for the exhibit. More than 100 of these sketches are being used as part of a summer collaboration between the Museum of Texas Tech, the Silent Wings Museum and the Science Spectrum, called Celebrating Our Heroes.

This all started when the Texas Tech Museum had already scheduled for the World War II Associated Press exhibit to come to Lubbock for the summer, so we chose to do our gala which is a fundraising project for museums around the World War II theme, Davis said. The whole summer then was kind of built around what was going on at Silent Wings, as well as the Science Spectrum and Texas Tech, to honor our veterans. It was a great way to kind of bring our whole community together and celebrate our heroes for a summer.

Michael Hurd said he thinks the theme is a great way to celebrate American life as depicted by his father. His father had a great sense of humor and was a great storyteller, Michael said, which allowed him to find a balance when painting the atrocities of war.

Davis said the Hurd exhibit will feature mostly small works, some of which include notes by the artist.

Excerpt from:

World War II exhibit of Peter Hurd sketches opening at Museum of Texas Tech