Background: creamy vintage paper texture. Image: Painting of a red/white/blue hot air balloon with U.S. flags for wings. Text: 'Mail Call'

Mail Call

Open May 19, 2023 Ellis Gallery

In February 1918, Walter Myers headed for a training camp at San Antonio, Texas. He wrote back home to Steubenville, Ohio, “all is OK.” Like many fathers, John Ross Myers sent a letter of reply to his son in camp.

Unlike many fathers, John Ross Myers was a professionally trained artist who owned a print shop in Ohio and painted theatrical scenery. On envelopes carrying letters to Walter, John carefully painted cartoons, scenes of camp life, patriotic symbols, mythological figures and expressive scenes of the American Expeditionary Forces at work “over there.”

Scan of a vintage envelope. A tank is painted in the corner, looming over silhouettes of soldiers running forward with bayonets.
Object ID: 2012.60.3 →

He mailed these works to his son, sometimes with decorated envelopes arriving in batches, wherever Walter was – Kelley Field in San Antonio, Texas; U.S. Aviation Camp in Morrison, Virginia; or “somewhere” in France.

While serving, Walter kept his father’s art with him and safely cared for it throughout the war.

Scan of a vintage envelope. A painted cartoon camel wearing a fez runs across the front of the envelope. Text: 'Desert Tank'
Object ID: 2012.60.32 →
Scan of a vintage envelope. Painted on the envelope is a figure of a Greek or Roman god seated on a throne. He's mostly naked, wearing winged sandals and a winged helmet. He holds a staff decorated with wings and winding snakes.
Object ID: 2012.60.21 →

Today, John Ross Myers’s work speaks to viewers through the years, communicating both a unique artistic perspective of the war and a father’s love for his child.

Scan of a vintage envelope. Painted with a nighttime scene of a row of round tents. An undressed person is crawling out of the foreground tent, reaching after another person dressed in uniform and running out of the tent while carrying a bugle.
Object ID: 2012.60.2 →
Scan of a vintage envelope. Painted with a crest consisting of an eagle with wings outstretched and flags of eight nations.
Object ID: 2012.60.15 →
Scan of a vintage envelope. Painted with two firecrackers, one intact and one in the midst of exploding.
Object ID: 2012.60.20 →
Scan of a vintage envelope. Painted with a cartoon of a soldier trotting forward with bayonet at the ready. Text: 'Hunting Hun Hounds'
Object ID: 2012.60.8 →
Scan of a vintage envelope. Painted with a cartoon of four soldiers running towards a man with a mustache. The lead soldier has stabbed the mustached man.
Object ID: 2012.60.17 →
Scan of a vintage envelope. Painted with a grand crest in red, white and blue with six U.S. flags sweeping out the sides.
Object ID: 2012.60.22 →
Scan of a vintage envelope. Painted with a scene of a soldier holding a bunch of balloons standing in front of a large tent.
Object ID: 2012.60.41 →
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