Peter Paul DeAnna was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania but grew up in Washington, DC. He was introduced to art at the Washington Boys' Club, where he was something of a prodigy. He taught art to the younger boys and won first prize for his painting in a Boys' Club of America exhibition at age 16. While in Washington's Central High School he studied at the Corcoran School of Art. At 19 he received a commission for a mural at the Post Office in Belmont, North Carolina. During World War II he was an army artist stationed first in the U.S. and then in France. After the war he went to New York to study at the Art Students League. His work was shown at the Washington Irving gallery. He married Grace Audrey Preinkert, a watercolorist, with whom he had four sons. Although DeAnna continued easel painting throughout his life, he did not pursue a career as a painter. Rather he became an illustrator and worked for the Smithsonian Institution, primarily at the National Air and Space Museum, where he created a number of murals and dioramas. Other murals and exhibits of his were created for the Museum of History and Technology and the Museum of Natural History.Air Battle Above the Somme WWI
Critical Analysis
Although DeAnna disdained a career as a traditional artist, he was a talented painter. His work may be found in the Corcoran Gallery and the Hirshhorn Museum, as well as a number of private collections. An exhibit of his realistic paintings, mounted after his retirement from the Smithsonian, received critical praise. A critic for the Washington Post described his work as "simple, calm, a little rough, and almost daringly old fashioned".
