William Congdon's Wartime Service and Art in Molise: A Diffuse Exhibition

A new cultural project in Molise, Italy, centers on American Action Painter William Congdon (1912-1998), who served as an ambulance driver with the American Field Service in the region during World War II. Congdon arrived in the 1940s along the Gustav Line, where the Sangro River and Montecassino marked the front. He documented civilian suffering in writings and drawings, later published in the memoir "In the Death of One." Before returning to America, Congdon and architect John Harkness (later a Gropius collaborator) devised an urban plan for the bombed city of Isernia. In 1946, he returned with a Quaker mission to aid reconstruction, anticipating the Marshall Plan and UNRRA. In 2024, the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Cassino, a diffuse exhibition titled "La Pace non è anch'essa un'emergenza?" ("Isn't Peace Also an Emergency?") runs until October 24, curated by Rodolfo Balzarotti, Cinthia Benvenuto, and Francesco Gesti. It spans three venues: Museo Sannitico di Campobasso (drawings from 1942-1945), Museo Nazionale di Castello Pandone a Venafro (30 oil paintings from his career), and Castello di Civitacampomarano (pastels from 1982-1998). The project includes historical panels, photographs, maps, and a multimedia presentation of Congdon's writings by ITSOS "Albe Steiner" of Milan, with collaboration from the William G. Congdon Foundation.