1943.05.21 “I Should Have Stuck to Painting”
by Mantegna
7.5 x 9.5 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection
The Echoes was a base newspaper (see additional image) for the personnel at Drew Field (Tampa, FL), and so it is inferred that Mantegna was stationed there. No additional information can be located.
The disillusionment of the Axis, starting with Hitler, all of whose dreams are imploding… Plop… with Hitler (dejected), Mussolini (wounded), and Tojo (sweating).
In March 1943, the Axis powers were reeling from a series of setbacks. Stalingrad had fallen (February 2, 1943), resulting in the catastrophic loss of Germany’s Sixth Army. This was a major propaganda and military defeat. The Soviet counteroffensives were pushing westward.
The Italian army was performing disastrously in North Africa. Mussolini had been hospitalized for health issues in early 1943, and his grip on power was visibly weakening. The Allied bombing of Italy was intensifying.
For Tojo, the Guadalcanal campaign had just ended (February 9, 1943) in an American victory. Japanese expansion had been halted in the Pacific, and American island-hopping was beginning.
