"Strategy at Noville" - James Dietz - World War II Military Art

The growing popularity of aviation art has brought before the public eye the works of a number of professional aviation artists. Among these one artist stands out for his unique approach to this genre. "The people, settings, and costumes are what make aviation history exciting and romantic to me." It is this feeling that makes James Dietz, and his artwork, so different from that of his contemporaries. Rather than simply illustrate aviation hardware, Dietz prefers to portray human involvement.

After graduation from Art Center College of Design in 1969, Jim began a successful career as a commercial illustrator in Los Angeles. The subject matter varied from automobiles to action scenes to romantic book covers. A steady flow of work from New York enabled the Dietz' to move to Seattle in 1978. It was at this time that he took his first concrete steps toward fulfilling his dream to specialize in aviation art, at that time an almost unheard of genre. Since then, aviation art has played an increasingly large part in his career. Jim Dietz's clients include Boeing, Bell Helicopter, Allison, and Flying Tigers, to name just a few.

Jim has also branched out into the fine arts field with his aviation art. A strong following has developed for his originals and a growing number of limited edition prints have introduced Jim's name to print collectors worldwide. Four of Jim's originals were put on display in the Smithsonian's National Air & Space Museum commemorating the 75th Anniversary of Naval Aviation; one of the paintings was presented by the Navy League to then Secretary of the Navy, John Lehman. A regular contributor to the Air Force Art Program, Jim's work has been featured on the cover of AIR FORCE magazine.

Jim Dietz has been honored with several gold medals from the Los Angeles Society of Illustrators and has won Best in Show in three successive years in the EAA Aviation Art Show. In 1988, at the second American Society of Aviation Artists forum, Jim was awarded the "People's Choice Award" for his painting selected by forum attendees. Major showings of Dietz's originals have recently been held at the EAA Museum and the San Diego Air Museum. His work is found in a number of private and corporate collections.

James Dietz Signed & Numbered Artist Proof Limited Edition "Strategy at Noville"

Ardennes-Alsace Campaign, WW II

Meeting Between U. S. Army Officers, January 1945

In collaboration with Major Dick Winters

What I recall most about the Ardennes-Alsace Campaign were the long, cold nights coupled with terrible artillery barrages, tree bursts, and infantry assaults conducted by desperate troops against frightening tank attacks. When the word came down for the attack on Noville to take place I could not believe that after what we had gone through and done, after all the casualties we had suffered, that they were putting us into the attack. The scheduled mid-day hour of the attack angered me even more. Having men move through snow almost knee deep, in the middle of a bright sunny day across one and a half miles of wide open field seemed suicidal. The Germans were sitting on the high ground with tanks hidden by the cover of the buildings. That day I earned my pay! Before we started, I recognized that our salvation just might be that there was a fairly deep shoulder in the terrain on the southwest side of Noville and if I sent the column straight for it, I could pick up more and more cover as we got closer to Noville. We were lucky. The Germans did not have any strong point on the shoulder and the plan worked. I had to put the whole battalion in single file to cut through that snow. It was a dangerous formation. The 1st Battalion was about 400 yards to our left and slightly to the rear of our column. From time to time I’d glance over to see how they were doing. They were being cut up by direct fire from the 88’s on those tanks in Noville. The fire was hitting into their lines; men were flying through the air scattering the snow covered fields. By dark I had worked the Battalion around the draw on the southeast corner of town. We had to go through machine gun fire coming from Noville that was covering the draw. We setup a couple of light machine guns of our own to counter this. The Germans would fire; we would give them a return burst and, at the same time, send a group of eight to ten men across the draw and a stream to the other side. It became a cat and mouse game. It took a lot of patience, but we did it without any casualties. From their position the Germans somehow failed to pass on to their command that we had made a flanking action on the southern end of town. As a result, the Germans left to conduct the delaying action were still oriented to the north where all our attacks had come from for the past few days. By dark, wringing wet with sweat, the battalion waited in the bitterest of cold before launching the final assault on Noville.

This 30" by 15" image size print, 34" by 20-1/2" overall, is signed by the artist and is now ONLY available in the following format:

Artist Proof (limited to 100) - $200

All Limited Edition prints are signed and numbered (S/N) by the artist. Limited Edition prints are restricted to a certain number. For example, if 400 prints are made from an original painting, once they’re gone, that’s it. There is no limit to the number of open edition prints of a particular painting. That’s why Limited Edition prints are more expensive — and more valuable to collectors — than "open" edition. Rare objects are more valuable.

An Artist’s Proof (AP), generally, is the first 5% - 10% of the Limited Edition prints that come off the press. This status is noted on the print. Collectors prefer APs because their value increases even more than a Limited Edition as time goes by.

All Limited Edition artwork is subject to availability at time of order. Although seller strives to remain currrent as to inventory, seller reserves the right to cancel a sale if item is no longer available at time of purchase.