During the First World War, the American Army inaugurated a “combat artist” program of eight men. Commissioned in February, 1918 and given little military instruction—in one instance, “training” consisted of a five-minute briefing—the artists arrived in France that summer. Among the eight was Philadelphia-born George Matthews Harding.

The grim reality of the conflict startled Harding. Gone were the patriotic images he had depicted when working stateside as a Navy poster designer. Instead, he encountered soldiers living in holes cut into the earth. Harding confronted a choice as much political as artistic: Should his work accurately reflect the lives of soldiers toiling in mud and muck, or should it present the romanticized view that could be used to gather support for the war effort at home?