Behind the Lines: Combat Artists and the Citadel Experience
Behind the Lines: Combat Artists and the Citadel Experience
November 20, 2025 – May 23, 2026
The Pritzker Military Museum & Library is proud to be the inaugural host of a wonderful new traveling exhibit, Behind the Lines: Combat Artists and The Citadel Experience. Featuring the work of eight acclaimed combat artists hosted as artists-in-residence by The Citadel’s Fine Arts Program, the exhibit offers a glimpse of everyday life, from drill practice to morning runs to haircuts at the campus barbershop. Together, these seemingly ordinary moments add up to something extraordinary and reveal a Corps of Cadets dedicated to the pursuit of honor, duty, and respect, upholding the core values of The Citadel.
Following a longstanding tradition of American artists chronicling war, many of the exhibiting artists have participated in the Marine Corps Combat Art Program. Founded in 1942 and managed today by the National Museum of the Marine Corps, the program deploys combat artists to training exercises and overseas operations to record and preserve the Marine experience. While photographs and video capture moments in time, combat art has the ability to preserve military life in a different way. It distills a range of experiences and emotions into a single scene.
The artists featured in Behind the Lines are part of a supportive, tight-knit community of combat artists. They have worked together, mentored one another, and share a common goal of expressing humanity through art, even when working in the most difficult of circumstances. At The Citadel, the artists shared their knowledge and experience with cadets while applying their combat art methods to life on campus. The resulting works of art capture The Citadel experience from both a military and human perspective.
Behind the Lines is curated by Tiffany Reed Silverman, Director of Fine Arts at The Citadel, and made possible by The Citadel School of Humanities and Social Sciences, The Citadel Office of the Provost, and Friends of Fine Arts at The Citadel. Tiffany will bring her expertise to a virtual program for PMML members on December 6 in support of the exhibit opening. “The Citadel is honored to share these stories of service with PMML, whose mission of education is so closely aligned with our own.”