| The Major George Herbert Gray Collection holds papers concerning the formation, organization, operation and closing of the Army Expeditionary Forces Art Training Center at Bellevue, Seine-et-Oise, France. This school operated from March to June, 1919. It drew its students and teachers from the corps of American enlisted men, commissioned officers and independent foreign servicemen in France during the period of Armistice, 1919. The Gray papers indicate that Major Gray and others hoped this innovative experiment would continue in some form, and that, at the very least, the students and their communities would benefit from the skills and information assimilated. This research has revealed that the concept of the school did continue in spirit at the Fontainebleau Art School and that more than forty-two percent of the students and teachers continued to work in the field of art. |
