The provenance behind Halprin’s early drawings is nothing short of extraordinary. Completed from 1943-1946, while Halprin was in the Navy, they remained in his San Francisco office unknown and unseen by his family for the entirety of his life. Halprin was deployed to the South Pacific on the USS Morris, where he spent his downtime capturing life at sea - landscapes, shipmates, military bases and housing, and his own inner turmoil and grief over horrific tragedies (notable in the provocative Fruits of Peace series). The experience of serving in the war changed Halprin and sketching served not only as an artistic practice that helped him aesthetically process the world around him, but also a psychological activity, an emotional working-through of the suffering he had observed.
Pandanus Tree, Purvis Bay, Florida Islands, 1943
Pen on paper
9 x 12 in.
Untitled, 1944
Watercolor on paper
12 x 16 in.
Night Watch, 1943-1944
Pen on paper
17 x 14 in.
Movies on USS Morris (DD 417), Guadalcanal, Mar. 3, 1943, 1943
Watercolor and pen on paper
14 x 18 in.
Attack Transport, Hollandia, Dec. 6, 1943, 1943
Pen and ink on paper
13 x 18 in.
Planes Stafing and Divebombing, Jap Position Hill 522, Battle of Leyte, 1943
Graphite on paper
8 x 8 in.
Private collection
Encampment Barracks, 1943-1944
Watercolor on paper
12 x 18 in.
Xmas Eve, Amsterdam Island, Sansapor, 1945
Ink on paper
8 3/4 x 11 5/8 in.
View from Bishops’ House, Purvis Bay, 1945
Watercolor on paper
12 x 18 in.
Airstrip, Middleberg Island, New Guinea, December 27, 1945, 1945
Pen and ink on paper
13 1/2 x 18 in.
VI, 1946
Ink and watercolor on paper
11 1/4 x 14 in.
From the Fruits of Peace series
Fitness Report, 1944
Ink on paper
14 5/8 x 18 1/4 in.
Heavy Cruiser, Louisville, Hollandia Harbor, Dec. 3, 1944, 1944
Charcoal on paper
14 x 18 in.
The Navy Sails the Seas on Coffee, 1943
Graphite on paper
8 x 13 in.
Letter to Annie, 1944-1945
Ink and watercolor on paper
13 3/4 x 18 in.
Private collection