WWI France: Even four years after the destruction of the Reims Cathedral by Germany in 1914, rubble littered the streets.
The town that had been bombarded with artillery laid in ruins around it. The colossal Reims Cathedral was the epitome of gothic architecture. Built in 1211, the structure was wrapped in elaborate façade and meticulous stained glass — all ravaged in the war. This needless destruction of the historic jewel of the city was the perfect fodder for allied propogandists to show the world the disparity between Germany’s actions and its supposed “Kultur”-minded philosophy. Political artists from all over the allied nations depicted the ruined church, devastated and dripping with irony, to the rest of the world.
Edmund Greacen, an American Impressionist painter, found a spot in the dust and rocks and started painting what was left of the cathedral. He wasn’t interested in the politics or symbolism behind the tortured building, although he did travel to France to help the Allied cause. Greacen was more fascinated in the way the light touched the surface on this cloudy, gray day. He paints quick and with a purpose only an impressionist knows. Afterward, he packs up and leaves, throwing his paintings together in haste. The year was 1918.
Today, 100 years later, these works sit in an exhibit at the Cummer Museum in Jacksonville. The subject of the show is “Edmund Greacen and World War I.” It is a complication of his oil sketches while on the battle fields of France during World War I. Due to the fact Greacen was 42 at the time, he couldn’t enlist so he donated his time with the “Foyer du Soldats,” which is comparative to the YMCA. It provided relief for soldiers during combat. During his stint with the organization, he painted the world around him, sketching out the destruction as he went from town to town. When he left, he arrived home with 25 oil paintings in a knapsack, some still wet and stuck together, a bottle of French champagne and two empty 75-millimeter artillery shell casings.
Edmund Greacen’s family, his granddaughters Renee Faure and Nancy Faure, hold the bulk of his collection today. Renee lives in a modest townhome in Neptune beach. Walking inside her home, however, one could be confused that they were in a small gallery. The walls in the brightly-lit living room are adorned with striking works of art, trimmed in antique gold frames. Some can be found leaning on walls, others in closets and under beds. One had to be meticulously restored after falling over and breaking in half. They are works of a master, but they are also loved and living with family.
Greacen’s work started garnering widespread acclaim many years after his death in 1949. In 1972, his works finally saw the light of day when about 300 paintings that were falling into disrepair in the family’s attic in White Plains, New York were discovered. They were held there by Greacen’s wife, Ethol, who died 20 years after him and couldn’t “bare to part with them,” according to Renee. During the height of their popularity, one painting could bring in upwards of $80,000 at auction.
The collection on display at the Cummer reflects Greacen’s work during his time roaming through France during World War I. It is notable for its fixation on the allure of his surroundings, rather than the barbarism of war.
“There are no bodies, there is no gore,” said Dreanna Faure Bane, great-granddaughter of Greacen. “There is no blood at all. His vision was more the visual of beauty instead of that.”
Greacen’s vison of the brutal landscape around him was romanticized. The hazy imagery and low contrast, limited palette of his paintings gives his work more of a dream-like characteristic rather than a realization of the nightmare that the war was. As to why Greacen painted this way while seeing the horror first hand can only be speculated. Reading his letters home, however, it is clear that he always held France closely in his heart.
“I think he was a little idealistic about the war,” Renee said. “His letter from the ship board on his way to France actually says, ‘If France is the way I remember it, I am going to try to arrange for us to spend another year here.’ He had not even arrived yet. War had been raging for about three years already. News didn’t travel as fast in those days. He probably just didn’t realize.”
Greacen had spent an idyllic time in France during his younger years from 1906 to 1910 living in an American Impressionist colony in Giverny, which surrounded Claude Monet’s home. There, he spent his days painting with other (soon to be) famous artists like Frederick Frieseke and Karl Anderson. It was during that time his wife gave birth to his daughter, Nan (Renee and Nancy’s mother). The paintings from that time period reflect the calm beauty of his surroundings. Scenes show Ethol languishing in a boat, rolling lush hills of grass and the little crystalline stream that Monet had diverted from the Seine to create his waterlily garden.
Perhaps in an effort to recall this period of his life and the France that he remembered, he embraced the aesthetic of the landscape rather than focusing on the devastation. Although, it’s also possible that’s just who Greacen was. It could be reasoned that he just wasn’t artistically interested in the grim confusion that surrounded him.
“He wanted to be in the environment as he saw it, as opposed to painting in his head,” Renee said. “A lot of artists just want to be very emotional about things, he just wanted to look out there. He saw beauty and that’s what he was looking for. He saw that everywhere.”
After Greacen died, he didn’t just leave behind hundreds of pieces of work but generations of artists. His daughter, Nan Greacen Faure, created still life oil paintings in New York before retiring in Ponte Vedra. Her daughter, Renee Faure, is a successful painter and her daughter, Dreanna Faure Bane, is a fashion designer who owns the online retail company, House of Jaguar.
Greacen created a legacy of art and beauty, which acted as a ripple effect of inspiration throughout this children’s lives. Growing up, Renee Faure remembers being immersed in art as far back as she can remember.
“I have lived with his beautiful paintings on my walls all my life,” Faure said. “They bring me peace.”
Surrounded by art and heritage, Renee Faure paints in the back room of her house. Here, she has the two empty 75 millimeter shell casings her grandfather brought home from that trip to France. At one time, those casings might have symbolized the destruction and death during the war all those years ago. These days, they hold fresh flowers.
Edmund Greacen and the Great War will be on display at the Cummer Museum from Feb.5 through Dec. 15.
