Air Raid Wardens (Primary Title)
Richard V. Correll, American, 1904 - 1990 (Artist)
Too old to enlist as a soldier in World War II, artist Richard Correll became an air-raid warden in the Civil Defense Corps. Air-raid alerts were commonplace on both sides of the Atlantic, and wardens were employed to direct fellow civilians to air-raid shelters. The uninterrupted lines, jagged angles, flattened forms, and stylized and simplified anatomies give this image a mechanical, Precisionist sensibility. The steel helmets and stirrup pump and hose (used for extinguishing fires) were common attributes of air-raid wardens. Not shown in Correll’s image however, are the gas masks that wardens often wore. The Metropolitan Museum of Art included Air Raid Wardens in its Artists for Victory exhibition (meant to instill patriotism), which traveled to twenty-six other institutions.
Some object records are not complete and do not reflect VMFA's full and current knowledge. VMFA makes routine updates as records are reviewed and enhanced.