Sketching the Skies: Penrose Vass Stout, Alabama’s WWI Artist-Aviator

July 14 – September 10, 2017
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts


The exhibition, presented at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) in partnership with the ADAH, featured a selection of sketches and letters by Montgomery native Penrose Vass Stout. Exhibited for the first time during the centennial of World War I, this collection features detailed sketches of military training, humorous aspects of camp life, the architecture of the French countryside, and Stout’s view from the cockpit as he served as a pioneer aviator in the early years of air warfare.

In 2014, Nathaniel Stout donated his grandfather’s sketchbook and letters to the ADAH. This unparalleled collection provides an honest, deeply personal glimpse of the wartime experience through Stout’s unique artistic perspective. To see selected documents and images from the papers, visit the Archives' digital collections.