©2001 The Krigstein Archives Home Comics Illustration Painting

Early Years (1936-1945)
Drawings and Etchings (1940)

Krigstein entered Brooklyn College in September 1936. Taking his father's advice, he majored in the "practical" field of Statistics. During his second year, however, he fell in love with an attractive English student, Natalie Horvitz, who recognized his talent and convinced him to change his major to Fine Art.

  1. Miriam
  2. Jackie #1
  3. Jackie #2
  4. Self Portrait
  5. Natalie #1
  6. Natalie #2
  7. Natalie #3
  8. Self Portrait #2
Early Oils (1936-45)

Krigstein's earliest existing oils were painted during college and the next two years before he was drafted. The pair of WPA pictures listed below were copies he had made of paintings by the Netherlandish painter, Rogier Van der Wyden. One of the jobs available on the WPA Arts Project was making copies of famous paintings for public buildings, and these oils secured him that position.

  1. Self-Portrait #1
  2. Self-Portrait #2
  3. Self-Portrait #3
  4. Self-Portrait #4
  5. Still Life with Bottle
  6. Four Apples
  7. Early Abstract
  8. Still Life with Fish
  9. WPA #1
  10. WPA #2
Christmas Cards (1941)

After graduating cum laude from Brooklyn College in 1940, Krigstein had a number of freelance illustration jobs before joining the WPA Arts Project in 1942. Here is a group of Christmas card roughs for Gallery Artists Company from 1941. Only one was used, Christmas Prayer.

  1. Starry Night
  2. Angel and Shepherds
  3. Snow Scene
  4. The Nativity
  5. Choir
  6. Sleigh Ride
  7. Santa
  8. Three Wise Men
  9. Sleigh Ride #2
  10. Angel and Shepherds #2
  11. Adoration of the Magi
  12. Christmas Prayer
Gum Inc. Trading Cards (1938)

To make some extra money while in college, Krigstein did some work for Gum, Inc., a trading card company whose Horrors of War series was so popular that a second group had to be added to the initial set of 240.

  1. Boulton-Paul O'Strand
  2. Horrors of War #247
  3. Horrors of War #276
  4. Horrors of War #78

Invader Cartoons (1944-45)

Krigstein was inducted into the Army in May 1943. Because of his Fine Arts degree, he was trained as a draftsman and map-maker and promoted to Sergeant T-6. He contributed several cartoons for the 28th Division's newspaper, The Invader, which provide a look at the artist's humorous side.

  1. The Bystander
  2. Nix Camels
  3. Sergeant!
  4. Never Mind Hans
  5. Bucking
  6. The Physical

Army Drawings (1944-45)

As the Allies advanced through Europe, Krigstein sent his wife a few dozen sketches, finished drawings, and paintings. He came upon a dead German soldier when his division first landed in France in 1944. This gruesome scene inspired the drawing Conversation and the later painting Dead German.

  1. Prostitute
  2. Conversation
  3. Craps Shooters
  4. Army Recital
  5. English Pub
  6. Division Boxing

©2001 The Krigstein Archives Home Early Comics Illustration Painting