Artwork titled “April Showers- USS Enterprise,” by artist Commander Edward T. Grigware, shows the flight deck and island of the Yorktown-class aircraft carrier Enterprise (CV 6) in 1944. In the foreground, a “yellow shirt” directs White 79, an F6F Hellcat fighter, as it taxis forward.
NNAM 1963.074.022
Grigware, born in 1889, was already a well-known American artist and illustrator before he moved from Chicago to Cody Wyoming in the 1930s. He attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and spent time working as a commercial artist. During WWII, Grigware created poster art to support the war effort and painted pieces for the Navy, including the haunting work above.