Nathan H. Glick, a World War II combat artist, was the guest speaker for the Demopolis Library Literary Luncheon on Thursday.

A native of Birmingham, Glick was attached to the Ninth Air Force, and his work appeared in Yank, Stars and Stripes, London Illustrated, Life, and Parade . His war illustrations have been exhibited in Cairo, London, and Paris.

Glick showed a crowd of about 30 people at the luncheon a series of combat sketches and drawings.

“I would take notes during the fighting and then spend the night or next day drawing what I saw,” said Glick. “They would then be sent out by the public relations department to publications across the world.”

Glick’s drawings follow his career in such theaters as North Africa, France, India and the Pacific.

Prior to the war, Glick went from high school in Montgomery to four years of art school in New York City where he studied with teachers Eric Pape and George Ennis.

At the same time he worked under James L. Clarke at the American Museum of Natural History, studying animal anatomy.

Later he returned to Montgomery as art director of Paragon Press. During this time he illustrated several books on Alabama history written by Marie Bankhead Owen, director of the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

When Owen conceived the idea of bronze doors for the Archives building, Glick was chosen as the designer for the monumental work depicting eight scenes from Alabama history. In 1940, the bronze panel doors were placed at the Washington Avenue entrance to the building, serving as “pocket doors.”

After the war, Glick moved back to Birmingham to join Progressive Farmer Magazine as art editor and illustrator. In 1983, he illustrated The World of the Southern Indians by Virginia Pounds Brown and Laurella Owens. In 1985, he illustrated Mrs. Brown’s Southern Indian Myths and Legends .

Glick is currently painting, illustrating, and working on murals.