On the Back

“Loading Tin Fish” by Georges Schreiber depicts a torpedo being carefully loaded aboard a WWII Navy submarine while in port. The greatest care is being exercised in this operation – not only because of the danger, which is comparatively slight, but because a slip might injure one of the immensely valuable “tin fish”.

Schreiber was born in Brussels in 1904 and began drawing and painting in early childhood. He studied art formally in Berlin, London, Rome, Paris, and Florence and came to the United States in 1928. He was so grateful for the opportunities offered in this country that he toured America, recording in 48 paintings his impression of each state. In 1943 he collaborated with Thomas Hart Benton to produce the Abbott Collection of Submarine Paintings, a project largely executed aboard the American submarine Dorado, which was later lost in action with all hands [Editor’s Note: See our Spring 2001 issue for more information on Benton and Dorado].

Artwork and information courtesy of the Navy Art Gallery.