The painting The Magnificent Fight: The Battle for Wake Island was created in 1999. It was the first of several of John Shaw’s aviation scenes to be commissioned by Eugene Eisenberg, a well-known collector of military, aviation and maritime oil paintings. Owner of the largest number of original oils by the famous British aviation artist Robert Taylor, Mr. Eisenberg’s collection is one of the finest of its type in the world. With a special interest in the opening days of WWII, Eisenberg had special individuals, aircraft and elements in mind when he commissioned the large 4’ x 8’ oil, and many of the individuals whose faces are depicted are based on wartime photos. A special thanks for help on specific details goes to the remarkable Wake Island pilot, Gen. John F. Kinney (shown over cockpit in t-shirt). Not only was he possibly responsible for Wake’s tiny ‘air force’ lasting as long as it did, due to his engineering ingenuity, but also was able to supply the artist with drawings from memory and based on his diary entries of those weeks at Wake, supplying details such as locations of water towers, positions of wrecked aircraft, tractors, revetments (and even the fuselage numbers to put on the aircraft in them!) It’s no wonder he was one of the few to escape the Japanese during his imprisonment, and make his way back to freedom across war-torn China, go on to become a Marine Corps General, and then nearly 60 years later be able to recall such details with amazing clarity. Such was the stuff of which these amazing defenders of Wake Island were made.Signed by THREE surviving Wake Island VMF-211 F4F Wildcat pilotsOverall size 92.5cm x 58cm Image size 78.5cm x 39cm
