Colorized Photo of Men of the Artists Rifle and 2 Scouts in Front of the Tower of London 1914

Armistice Day commemorates the end of World War I, which took effect at eleven o’clock in the morning, the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” of 1918. Today is the centennial of that commemoration. Last year, when we were in London, Anne took a picture of the above photo, while touring the Tower of London. The Artists Rifles was a volunteer battalion of the British Army that was drawn from painters, musicians, actors, architects and others involved in creative endeavors. They were billeted at the Tower in October of 1914, before being sent to the front. She took her picture with the intent of sharing it with our son, Dan, who is also an artist. The original photograph is black-and-white, but using an App from Algorithmia, I was able to colorized it. I think that adding a little color helps to humanizes these people a little bit. In part, because the Great War didn’t turnout to be the war to end all wars, we now call Armistice Day Veterans Day and it is usually observed on Monday, making for a three-day weekend. A lot has changed in a hundred years.