James Dietz


James Dietz, also known as Jim Dietz, is a contemporary artist known for his history paintings, particularly of subjects from the First and Second World Wars. He has been a member of the World War I Aviation Historical Hall of Fame, served as a board member of the Automotive Fine Artists of America. He has received awards for his work from the American Society of Aviation Artists and other arts organizations.

Early career

Dietz was born in San Francisco, California. He graduated from the Art Center College of Design in 1969. Following his graduation, Dietz moved to Los Angeles to work as a commercial illustrator. His work ranged from "automobile ads, movie posters, and romantic and historical/action book covers". After working in New York, Dietz and his family moved to Seattle in 1978. At this time he started to specialize in aviation art.

Major works

Dietz's major works include Maximum Effort, a commission for the 449th Bomb Group Association who were veterans of the 15th Air Force, Arctic Convoy, Fall of the Falcon, Last Word, and Yanks Mount Up. His oil painting Bottom of the First, which depicts U.S. soldiers on duty in the Philippines during the Second World War, was the winner of Best in Show in CAE Simuflight's Horizons of Flight Art Exhibition in 2000.
His works are exhibited in different military museum collections. Citizen Soldier and The Crossing, which depicts the 132nd Infantry Regiment at Guadalcanal, are currently on exhibit at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library. An exhibition of his work entitled Wood and Canvas: the WWI Aviation of James Dietz was on display at the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum through January 2014.

Influences

Dietz's combat art has been influenced by notable combat artists of past periods, including Frederic Remington, Harvey Dunn, Howard Brodie, Kerr Eby, and Thomas C. Lea III. His World War II paintings echo paintings of the American Civil War in their classicality and acceptance of war's brutality. As Dietz phrased it, "I had shot off my mouth about how I could really do a job on World War I flying, so I had to produce something." He believed that the relatively small size of aircraft and their frail structures, would make them ideal for compositions focused on people. These characters had been very prominent in his World War I pieces, that he earned "a reputation as an aviation painter who did not paint airplanes". He made many details right, which included czarist ration boxes and Austrian engine fittings.

Clients