The world according to Victor Letonoff

As Victor Letonoff flips through the pages of a small sketchbook, watercolor paintings remind him of his travels to Paris. As a page turns, a French street gives way to the Golden Gate Bridge, only to be replaced by another scene showcasing the distinct architecture of Key West.

Rather than document his travels through photography, the 82-year-old Letonoff takes time to sketch or paint his experiences, rarely leaving the house without his paint brushes, pencils and paper. Whether enjoying the afternoon at Cafe Azafran in Rehoboth Beach, walking his dogs around Lewes or traveling, Letonoff always finds time to document the beauty of the world.

"There have been two things in my life - the Army and my art," said Letonoff, while sitting the small studio in his Lewes home surrounded by original works.

The two-time Silver Star recipient spent 35 years in the Army, retiring in 1988 as a colonel. As that career came to an end, he began another. He enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia in 1993, where he studied nearly five years. While there, he spent a summer semester abroad at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

"It's one of the great figurative schools in the world," he said.

The school far exceeded his expectations, but the city itself provided an unforgettable experience.

"I lived in Port Royal, and every night, I would go up to the Cafe Les Deux Magots and get a glass of wine," he said. "I would sit and talk with people, then I would walk slowly across Paris to my apartment and have dinner on the way back."

He's returned to Paris several times since, and each trip is documented in his sketchbooks.

Letonoff has always had artistic talent. He began drawing in sketchbooks while deployed in Vietnam in the 1960s. While sketches and watercolors dominate the pages, the sketchbook also serves as a journal, with Letonoff's musings often accompanying the day's scene.

Since studying art seriously, Letonoff has made a name for himself as a fine artist over the last quarter century, with pieces hanging on the walls of homes, in the offices of Delaware politicians and in businesses throughout the region. He works primarily in oil, specializing in still life and portrait work.

In recent years, Letonoff has developed a tremor. Fortunately, he said, it hasn't had a major impact on his work.

"The tremor goes away when I'm in the studio," he said. "It's not as pronounced – let's put it that way."

Inspiration can come in many forms, from an advertisement in a magazine to a popular film. One film in particular, "Schindler's List," inspired one of his family's most cherished self-portraits. In a scene during Steven Spielberg's World War II film, a Nazi commander and the title character are working out slave labor. To convey a man who not only cares about making money, but also saving lives, Spielberg lit only half of Schindler's face.

"It captured the mood of someone who wanted to do two things," Letonoff said. "I came home, and I painted that. It was my self-portrait."

In one painting, he said he was inspired by an advertisement featuring a construction worker. He took that idea and created a painting that symbolized the building industry casting a shadow over Delaware's open space. It started as an idea in one of Letonoff's sketchbooks. As it developed, it made its way to canvas.

Letonoff pages through his sketchbooks often. He said they are very important in his life and his career.

"When you have a problem, you go into the sketchbooks," he said. "You go back 10 or 15 years, and it's a microcosm of what you were doing then. Sometimes you've worked out the same problem 10 years before, and it's laid out for you in the sketchbook."

Letonoff has all of his sketchbooks dating back to the 1960s on a shelf in his studio. It's joined by dozens of art books, even more paint brushes and every single letter he wrote home while in Vietnam.

Letonoff's military career began immediately after graduating from Avon Grove High School in West Grove, Pa. He was determined to attend West Point, but to do so, he first had to prove he was worthy.

"The senator who gave me my appointment had people quit partway through," Letonoff said. "He said if I would go in the Army and be a soldier and prove that I really wanted to be a soldier, that he would give me principal appointment, which guaranteed entry into West Point."

He joined the 82nd Airborne Division, completed training and attended the U.S. Military Academy Prep School.
"By the time I was ready to go to West Point, I was in shape, I know how to run, and my academics were up," he said. "It was a great place for me to go."

Letonoff graduated from West Point in 1960 and became a combat officer. He served as both a tank officer and a paratrooper with more than 300 jumps during his three-and-a-half-decade career.

"If I had to say the one thing that is the driving force in my life, it was the fact that I went to West Point, and that school is imbued with the idea of duty, honor, country," he said. "I still to this day try to do something each day for my country. I really believe in that."

Letonoff had reached the rank of colonel by the time he retired from the Army in 1988. He earned two Silver Star awards for gallantry while serving as a cavalry troop commander in Vietnam. He later was battalion commander of the Third Armored Division in Europe. He also taught at West Point and the Army War College.

Letonoff was born in Wilmington and spent his younger years in Philadelphia. His family moved to New York City during World War II. During that time, Letonoff's parents shipped him and his sister down to Rehoboth Beach during the summers. As he neared retirement from the Army, he said, he was trying to find a place to lay down roots, when he drove into Lewes one day.

"I just fell in love with the town," he said. "My master's degree was in urban geography, and when I looked at Lewes in 1982, I saw a city that was going to be like it is now. It had all the roots to become a great little place to live - family, nice homes, good architecture, an opportunity to be part of the community. That's all important to me."

Letonoff's first home was on Fourth Street, and he now lives just a few blocks away on Second Street.

Since moving to Lewes, he's been heavily involved with the city, serving on committees for former Mayor Al Stango in the late '80s, early '90s before joining city council for six years. Ultimately, he said, his tremor forced him out. He now spends his time with his wife of 23 years, Lacey, while continuing to paint the world as he sees it.