Framing Edward Reep: A War Artist’s Journey to Bologna 1944-1945

Framing Edward Reep is a pictorial journey following the Allied Troops descent through the Apennines to Bologna in the wake of Bologna’s liberation from Nazi-Fascist occupation. 

As an official Combat Artist during World War II, Captain Reep captured significant moments in Bologna’s history through sketches and paintings. In 2012, daughter Susan Reep discovered the film to the photographs Reep had taken along the way in a cigar box in her father’s studio and realized the significance of them – particularly the first photograph shot of “Sacracio dei Partigiani,” a now sacred memorial wall in Bologna. During WWII, this wall was used by Nazi-Fascists to shoot partisans and those fighting against Fascism for the Bolognese people. Once Bologna was liberated, this wall became a memorial, known in English as “The Shrine of the Partisans.” 

 These previously unpublished images of Reep’s journey debuted at Istituto Parri ER, Bologna during the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Bologna.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website