Yakima Militia, 2004

William Brennen
American (born 1949)

Location: Yakima National Guard Armory and Readiness Center, Yakima

About the Artwork

Yakima-based artist William Brennen created an artwork with local content for the Yakima National Guard Armory and Readiness Center in Central Washington. To gather ideas for the paintings, Brennan did research at the local Yakima library and toured the military museum at Camp Murray near Tacoma.

The large, central painting of Yakima Militia shows the old downtown Yakima Armory and troops leaving for war in the center. On the left side of the painting, there is a scene of the Philippine Insurrection of 1899, gradually blending into a 1940s World War II scene. The far right side shows guardsmen involved in search and rescue during the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980.

Two separate paintings show a soldier of the Spanish-American war of 1898 (left) and a modern day fire-fighter (right). The fourth painting at the top of the stairs shows two World War I soldiers.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Military Department.

About the Artist

Yakima, Central Washington-based artist William Brennan is a prolific landscape and portrait painter whose work is influenced by the American realist artist Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009), among other artists. He attended Yakima Community College and Central Washington University in Ellensburg.

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