From fashion illustration to illustrating WWII

He was the only male in his class of women's fashion illustration at Detroit's Meinzinger's Art School in the early 1940s. But when the class received assignments to illustrate women's foundation garments, Jack Keenan switched to advertising design.

Photographs of Keenan's drawings, which are on display at the Clements Library. (Photos by Paul Jaronski, U-M Photo Services)

Neither fashion illustration nor advertising design could keep Keenan from answering the call of his local draft board in June of 1941. But the artist-turned-soldier never denied his talents and recorded what he saw during his tour of duty with the U.S. Army in drawings and watercolors.

That history is on display at the Clements Library in "One Man's War: the World War II Sketches of Jack Keenan"—an exhibition of his work that ranges from his initiation into the Second Armored Division in Louisiana to his dreams of life after the Army.

"I weighed 118 pounds and never could touch my toes," Keenan says. "I didn't figure I had a promising career as an infantryman."

Ripe for any idea that would get him out of basic training in the Louisiana heat, Keenan volunteered for bugle school. Buglers on duty also served as runners for the Regimental Headquarters, and while waiting for a run, Keenan noticed a person attempting to paint a sign. He was struggling and not doing a very good job, so Keenan volunteered to put his art school training to work.

"I could draw, letter and type," Keenan says. "I was a triple threat. Suddenly Pvt. Jack Keenan, the bugler, was a valuable GI."

He began producing artwork for training sessions, became responsible for typing and reproducing all regimental operations materials, drew maps, and kept the locations of units while in the field. He soon was promoted to corporal.

In a short period of time, Keenan was promoted to master sergeant. From humid Louisiana to the arid Mojave Desert, back to the U.S. and then to Europe, Keenan continued to draw and paint the soldiers he worked with, the equipment they handled and the varied environments in which they found themselves.

His experiences included meeting up with movie star Lew Ayers, a conscientious objector working as a medic; listening to a pep talk by General George Patton; seeing the famous Chartres Cathedral in France, crossing the Seine; moving through Holland and Belgium, fighting in the Battle of the Bulge; crossing the Elbe; liberating a Nazi concentration camp; and finally rolling into Paris.

Victory in Europe was sweet and the return home after four and a half years even sweeter for Keenan.

"When we came into New York Harbor," Keenan recalls, "we saw the Statue of Liberty and huge welcome banners on the docks. Tenders came alongside our ship and containers of milk were handed out to everyone. It tasted wonderful. It was the first milk we had to drink since we left the U.S."

The exhibit will run through May 6. Hours are 1-4:45 p.m. Monday-Friday or by appointment. A reception will be held from 4-6 p.m. April 27 at the library.