Let Us Never Forget:
Stories and Paintings
of World War II
A colorful, tactile, dense collection of historical paintings and personal
stories of war – as told by men and women who experienced them.
Award-winning painter and first-time
author Frank McGinley, 84, of Toms
River has published his first book, Let
Us Never Forget: Stories and Paintings of
World War II, a colorful, tactile, dense
collection of historical paintings and personal stories of war, as told by the men
and women who experienced them. Since
its release in September, 300 copies have
sold.
One recent fall day, in a jam-packed
art studio in the home where he has lived
since 1971 and where he and his wife of
50 years, Jane, raised their four children,
McGinley discussed his life, his work,
and his hope for the future of fine art and
aspiring artists.
The five-year process of researching
and compiling the material for the book
and creating the artwork began in 2007,
at a time when McGinley had just gotten out of the hospital and was feeling
like he “had to do something,” he said.
He created a book cover for an author
friend, Don Peck out of Perth Amboy;
when he attended Peck’s book signing as
a special guest and brought along a painting of a Revolutionary scene with John
Paul Jones, Peck’s publisher David Kane
of American History Press suggested McGinley do a book.
It was a research heavy process in which
McGinley relied exclusively on his hand
Photo Credit: Jennifer Sancton
by Victoria Lassonde
Francis McGinley receives Lifetime
Achievement Award from Roberta Krantz
and Tim Hart.
written notes. “I don’t like a computer. I
stay the heck away from it. (Otherwise)
You never get a painting done. … I’ve
lived without it almost 84 years.” McGinley already had dozens of completed
paintings, some scenes from World War
II, and some of the Holocaust, for a series he was commissioned to paint from
1989 to 1991, all of which he took into
schools to teach students about history.
So he expanded on those works by seeking out individuals to hear and illustrate
their stories. He conducted interviews,
recorded the stories and painted pictures
to go with them. The legwork took him
through newspaper archives, courtesy of
an editor friend at the now-defunct News
Tribune in Woodbridge, and on a tour of
the USS New Jersey for a chapter dediContinued on page 4
Out & About 3
Photo Credit: Author’s Website
Spitfires over Anzio.
cated to the Naval battleship. To finish
the book he completed 47 new paintings
last year.
One of the chapters in Let Us Never Forget depicts 90-year-old George Watson of
Lakewood, a member of the Tuskegee
Airmen, who told McGinley the whole
story of the Great Train Robbery in Italy
and how he waited 60 years for his presidential citation (in 2006) for his role in
that historic event. One tells the story of
the Warsaw Ghetto. Another is a tribute
to D Day.
Some of the stories in the book are in
the character’s own words, “as told to”
McGinley. Admitting he is not a born
writer, McGinley explained he worked
exclusively from handwritten notes and
had his wife Jane edit every page carefully
before it went to the book editor.
“She would take the ‘the,’ and put the
‘the’ where the should-be, and the ‘do’
where it’s supposed to be, and ‘not to be’
another place.” The book “became a challenge,” he said. Though they didn’t know
the outcome when they started, the end
result is one of his greatest adventures and
proudest accomplishments.
4 Out & About
For the reader, Let Us Never Forget combines visual and written elements to convey a more complete history of events. “If
you look at the painting, you’ve got to
read the story to know what the painting
represents.”
His book tour has included stops in
Point Pleasant and Teaneck, at historic Kearny Cottage in Perth Amboy, at
American Legion halls and McGuire Air
Force base. In the months of November
and December, his organization, the NJ
Chapter of American Artists Professional
League, presents works at Ocean County
College, as it has every year since 1996.
He already envisions another book on the
horizon with the same publisher, a followup that continues the World War II
stories and expands into the Korean and
Vietnam wars.
McGinley’s interest in bringing war
stories to life through his paintings, in
bringing to light the personal, human
side of history, war and peace, grew out
of a realization that “an awful lot of this
was missing from the school systems.”
“You go into a school, and you’ll find
that the children do not know anything
Photo Credit: Author’s Website
Depth charges against U-Boats in the Atlantic.
at all about these stories, the stories of individuals. If (the students) get anything,
all they get is the fact that the war was
waged, four years against Germany and
so forth, and we won the war, but they
don’t know what was put into it, how
the men died – their grandfathers and, in
some cases even, years ago, their fathers
– how they fought for this country. None
of them seem to know about it.”
Having served two years, himself, in the
Army Signal Corps during the Korean
War – “defending the West Coast against
invasion with an empty rifle,” as he put it
– he draws on some of his firsthand experiences for inspiration. Having witnessed
two atomic bombs detonate in Nevada in
1952 as a part of an Army joint operation, he can recall colors that most people
have only ever seen in black and white,
“because I was there.” Though the subject
matter is at times poignant, McGinley
said he doesn’t get emotional about the
work. He feels some detachment is necessary.
At home, McGinely immerses himself
in videos and books about the war. “But
what I’m looking for is a little bit deeper
than that. I’m looking for the individual
who fought in the war. I have friends of
mine, fellow artists.” In his role as President of the NJ chapter of the American
Artists Professional League, he has “access
to some of the best artists in the country,”
top water colorists and others who paint
for outfits like the USPS, Air Force and
Coast Guard. “So if I need help, I just go
to my buddies.”
Indeed, he has lived life by surrounding
himself with rich resources. “They’re rich
because they’ve got a history to tell. How
they’ve lived in this country and how
they’re willing to put their lives right on
the line for their country.”
His mediums include watercolor and
acrylic, but his preferred medium is oil.
Over the years he has developed a technique he calls the “oil float.” He starts
with a canvas, no bigger than 16 by 20
inches (so it can be completed in one sitting), and gives it a thick coat of black
gesso. Once it dries, he layers “ivory
black” or “lamp black” oil paint on top
of it, then immediately applies “titanium
white” to the wet black canvas to begin
to pull shapes out of the darkness; to create movement and light; to draw warmth
from cold, reality from imagination.
“When you put white into black, you’re
going to get tones,” he explained. “You
have to work the tones.”
Pointing to a small painting of a battle
scene in the woods, where an explosion
has just occurred outside the composiContinued on page 6
Out & About 5
Photo Credit. Ocean County Historical Society
Toms River Privateer pursues English Merchant.
tion and a tanker is parked in a cloud of
gunsmoke, McGinley said: “Here, I can
explain how the black and white work.
If you look close, you can see how everything was black. The whole canvas was
soaking wet. Then I applied the white.
Now, when I first put this white on, you
see how it’s light up here? I don’t care. It’s
getting it to balance, in color. But when
you put the white on top of black, it’s going to fade into the painting, but it’s a
question of mixing it and making it come
alive.”
“I’m not what you’d call a realist.” He
said. “I’m a storyteller.” Realism is desirable, to a point, he said, but ultimately,
“it’s your painting, nobody else’s.” Incorporating other artists’ styles into your
own work is just a valid way as any to
“learn what you’re doing.” Imagination,
above all else, is essential.
Estimating he has completed more than
2,000 paintings in his lifetime, McGinley never had his heart set on getting rich
from his artwork.
“This is my relaxation,” the artist said,
sitting back down at his drawing table,
where a new work was just being laid and
beginning to take shape.
When he gets started, “I don’t know
where I’m going.” Nor does he know
6 Out & About
what it might fetch, because that is never
the point. “I never put a hard number
(on art). I’ve given paintings away, and
I’ve sold (mural) paintings up close to
$20,000. … The point is, it’s art.”
Art will always have an important place
in the world, he said, as long as school
districts emphasize it in the curricula and
applications for the disabled continue to
be investigated.
“This is the whole thing: Everyone can
paint, if they put their mind to it, and
just seek out lessons or get someone to
direct you. But it’s there.”
He said he thinks art in any form, be
it painting or music or performance art,
rests on the individual creating it. The
world is full of countless artists, he said,
but, as long as they derive reward from
their work, he believes “there’s room for
all kinds of art. It’s how it’s dispersed.” He
would encourage anyone with a love of
art to pursue it at all costs.
“Why feel down? If you give into it,
you’re licked. You’ve got to have a positive
attitude, no matter what it is. Don’t say,
‘I give up.’”
Whatever the method, by working from
photographs or sketches, an artist should
embrace it without apology or doubt, and
always find a way to make the work per-
sonal, he said. “Do everything. Try everything. … It’s for your enjoyment. What
the heck do you care what the other person is thinking. It’s what you want to get
out of it. And if you’re looking for money,
forget about it. You can make a good living out of art, but at the same time, you
can’t be ridiculous.”
Interestingly, although his talent and
love for art began as a boy, it was through
McGinley’s career as a mortgage banker
that he found a pathway into the art
world as an adult. The president of Perth
Amboy Savings in New York was a Rotarian who believed it was important to
give back to the community; so when he
learned of McGinley’s artistic ability, he
asked him to contribute original paintings
to fundraisers with civic and community
organizations with sales of lithographs to
benefit different hospital organizations.
The first of those paintings, for an insurance company, was called “The Helmsman,” of a Coast Guard cutter used to
chase pirates up and down the Jersey
Shore until 1857.
Today, McGinley noted, auctioning
fine art as a means to raise money for
charity is a less common practice, “a dying trade.” But it wasn’t unusual, at that
time, for business and art to combine and
for opportunities to arise out of such relationships. “It was the help that everybody
gave you. … This, today, I don’t know if
it still goes on.”
From an art marketing perspective, he
said, though it takes a bit of salesmanship, every new piece is a door that could
be opened.
He also enjoys working with other artists. In 1976 he and a friend collaborated
on a 26-week series in the News Tribune
on the Revolutionary War, in conjunction with the bicentennial. In 1999 with
the Daily Observer in Toms River, he and
a friend ran illustrated historical works.
In 2000 he showed his artwork to Holocaust survivors at the Polish Embassy in
New York.
In his research he has learned a tremendous amount from talking with military
personnel about their experiences in different branches. “They are all different.
But they all have one goal: to serve their
country.”
“Like everything else, you learn through
experience. … It’s talking to people, understanding people.”
His entry into the art world was an art
contest in the eighth grade. A nun at his
grade school in Harlem submitted his
artwork, along with two other students’
paintings, to a contest of over 15,000 students. His entry was a crayon depiction of
the Battle of Wake Island. “We couldn’t
afford paints. This was in the height of
the Depression Era, 1942.”
“I got thrown out of a class in high
school, because a teacher said he wanted
me to paint this way, and I said, no, I
want to paint this way. … ” Fortunately
another teacher appreciated his renegade
spirit and offered him private instruction. Another artist, Chuck Miller, later
a curator of the New Bern museum in
North Carolina gave him good advice
and helped him work on his technique.
Renowned Marine Corps artist Charlie
Waterhouse advised him specifically on
painting military scenes. He credits the
three of them with leading his way. What
they all had in common was they all urged
him to follow his heart on the canvas.
He grew up in East Harlem for 22 years
before moving to the Bronx, getting married and moving to Riverdale, then to
Perth Amboy. He continued painting all
along the way, in different styles, discovering his own voice. He was also lucky to
have enriched his art talent by learning
illustration in an advertising department
setting and studying drafting and painting in the Army.
“If you enjoy something, never leave it.
Stay with it. Don’t look for a door to be
opened and say you’re going to make a
million dollars. … Just live and enjoy life
as it goes, day by day.”
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