Remembering a Redding artist in the ‘Ghost Army’
REMEMBERING REDDING ARTIST ARTHUR SHILSTONE, WHOSE JOB WAS TO MISLEAD THE ENEMY IN WWII
“HE LOVED TO BE AT HIS DRAWING BOARD. IT WAS A SOURCE OF SECURITY AND CONSTANT PRESENCE THAT I GREW UP WITH,” SAYS HIS SON.
As a businessman, Arthur Shilstone was a great artist.
The Redding resident, who died July 30 at age 97, originally thought he would pursue a career in business, says writer and director Rick Beyer.
“In high school, Arthur thought the thing for him to do was go into business,” Beyer says. “So he was taking business courses, and doing badly. He also took an art course, and the teacher told him he had potential as a commercial artist. He took this to his business teachers and they said, ‘Yes, please, Arthur be an artist!’ ”
Shilstone, thankfully, took that advice and went on to a storied artistic career that included 12 years as an illustrator for Life magazine, a stint as an official artist for NASA and many other impressive credits.
He also used his talent in service to his country. In 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and was picked for the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, a unit also known as the Ghost Army. The unit specialized in using inflatable tanks, sound effects and other trickery to fool the Germans on Europe’s battlefields.
Shilstone served in the 603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion, which specialized in visual deceptions. Others in the unit included fashion designer Bill Blass and artist Ellsworth Kelly. Beyer, who lives in Chicago, says he met Shilstone while working on the 2013 documentary “The Ghost Army.” Beyer also coauthored the 2015 book “The Ghost Army of World War II.”
“I immediately liked Arthur,” Beyer says. “He was sort of droll and had kind of a quiet sense of humor.”
Beyer says Shilstone was also modest. Though he was clearly proud of his service in the army, Beyer says, Shilstone played down his own bravery and accomplishments. However, according to his obituary, Shilstone’s unit participated in five campaigns and “was responsible for the diversionary tactics that drew German troops away from post D-Day skirmishes in Normandy.”
Shilstone also made drawings and paintings based on his wartime experiences, many of which were featured in Beyer’s documentary.
He continued to be dedicated to art in his post-war life, says his son, Bill Shilstone. A native of Glen Ridge, N.J., Arthur Shilstone lived in Lake Mahopac, N.Y. for years before moving first to Manhattan, then to Westport, and finally to Redding in 1957. He lived there until his death, and Bill Shilstone says his father spent hours in his studio, which boasted a large picture window.
“He loved to be at his drawing board,” Bill Shilstone says. “It was a source of security and constant presence that I grew up with.”
Bill says despite his father’s role in the Ghost Army and his growing success as an artist — in addition to “Life,” his work was published in Smithsonian, Saturday Evening Post, Sports Illustrated, Gourmet, The New York Times Magazine and National Geographic among other publications — he was a husband and father first.
Arthur often incorporated family members into his art, asking them pose for his illustrations. “We spent time begrudgingly standing there and saying ‘How long do you want me to hold this pose?’ ” Bill recalls.
Bill’s wife, Heide, also remembers being called into service. “He would say ‘Now, Heide, I want you to come down the stairs and look shocked,’ ” she says.
Arthur’s work was also chronicled in the book “Arthur Shilstone: A Lifetime of Drawing & Painting” by Fred Polhemus. In addition to his service, his artwork and his time as a father and husband, Shilstone was a lover of a nature and he and his late wife Beatrice were founding members of the Redding Land Trust.
Bill Shilstone says his father was always grateful for the life he led.
“He said many times to me that, if he could do it all over again, he wouldn’t change a thing,” he says.
In lieu of flowers, the Shilstone family requests that donations be made to the Redding Land Trust, P. O. Box 1076, Redding, CT 06895 or at reddingctlandtrust.org