The Shrine - family memories at the Smithsonian Museum
/I first met Susan Reep and her husband Mark Smith at the Fast Cars & Fine Wine Event that Portland Bologna Sister City Association organized at the Oregon Wine Reserve in August of 2023.
Susan and Mark heard that I had just returned from Bologna and shared some of their personal experience with our sister city. They had a love for the city for myriad reasons. As we talked, I learned Susan’s father had been in Bologna during World War II. I found out that her father, Edward Reep, had been in the US Army and performed his duty as an artist and photographer, although he was often pushed into other urgent service. My ears immediately perked up. My first thought was that they were going to tell me Ed had captured my Uncle Joe’s chiseled yet cherubic visage in one of his works. (Uncle Joe was “movie star” handsome.)
Because of his assignment, Ed Reep was in Bologna as the Allied Troops (my uncle among them) entered Bologna to liberate the city. Arriving in Piazza Maggiore, essentially in the initial wave, he came upon the immediate aftermath of the atrocities the Nazi forces committed before fleeing north. Edward Reep photographed and drew (and I would venture, chronicled in his mind) the nascent altar-to-the-dead being assembled by the Partigiani and other horrified citizens, memorializing the massacre of Nazi resisters, bloodstains still fresh on the walls. This would be amazing enough, but Edward captured this moment on canvas a year later. Not only is “The Shrine” a revered work of art, it represents the horrors of war and the sadness and anger - the human way of responding - left in its wake. And by the way, this painting is in the Smithsonian Museum!
Susan and Mark’s daughter Kimberly called me shortly before Sally and I returned to Bologna in February. She was going to be in Europe for a while and was planning to come to Bologna. It would be the first time Kimberly would have the chance to experience the landscape of her grandfather’s painting. Sally and I really enjoyed spending time with Kimberly as she discovered an important part of her family’s history.
She made this beautiful short film to commemorate her grandfather and her experience walking in his steps almost seventy years later. We at Portland Bologna are proud to offer it to you
Phillip Potestio