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Personal Reflection/Anecdote

Nancy Newton, Nancy: So, at first it was curiosity. How did it turn into a passion that
a member of Iota Pi
Chapter and past consumed 10 years of your life?
president (2013–2015) of Elena: I had no idea what I was getting into. When I went to Belarus for the first
Texas State Organization, time, I believed it would be the one and only trip. However, it soon became very
currently serves clear that working at the archives is like washing for gold. One has to sift through
DKG as a member tons of dirt to find a nugget. At first, I was frustrated that my progress was so slow.
of the International Then I started getting excited, feeling the “rush of the hunt.” Whenever I opened a
Centennial Celebration
Committee, 2020–2024. new file, I thought, “This is it. I will find it here.” As I found new “gold nuggets,”
nancynew13@aol.com the gaps in Gaspard’s life began to fill in. I started developing strategies—which
direction to go next, what leads seemed to be the most promising. I felt that I was
on a quest of sorts, that I was the one to write the definitive biography of this
elusive artist. Frankly, I could not imagine anybody else digging through old,
handwritten documents in Russian and French trying to put together this jigsaw
puzzle with so many missing pieces.

Nancy: This leads me to my next question. Why is it important to know the
true life story of Gaspard—as you definitely proved that throughout his life he
embellished and stretched the truth?
Elena: I don’t believe it is possible to truly understand an artist’s work without
knowing the context within which this work was created. Gaspard presented
himself to the world as a confident, successful artist who traveled all over the
planet and was friendly with celebrities. It turns out that he was insecure, hiding
his true life story because he felt it was not interesting enough to provide a fitting
context for his art. There were other reasons as well for his fictional narrative,
which I discuss in my book. There is also a practical side to my research. Art
historians still base their critique and date his work using erroneous assumptions.
The book provides them with a reliable timeline and firm facts.

Nancy: Can you give an example how the new information you have found
influenced your understanding of his art?
Elena: I was able to establish that Gaspard’s participation in World War I
lasted no more than a few months rather than a year and a half, as he claimed.
The documents point to his service in the French army, and there is no chance,
given the time frame, he also served in the Russian army. Nevertheless, his first
exhibition in the United States in 1916 was titled A Russian Painter’s Impressions
of the War: Scenes in Russia and France by Léon Gaspard. Critics unanimously
praised the feeling of immediacy in his works that only an eyewitness could
convey. The only possible answer to this conundrum, in my opinion, is that he
based his Eastern-front paintings on the sketches he had made while traveling in
Russia before the war—hence the feeling of immediacy—and later dressed some
of the characters (who had undoubtedly been civilians) in the army uniform.

Nancy: You mentioned the importance of your research for art historians.
What about someone in a different field? Is there also an educational value in
your research, for example, for college students?
Elena: I think there are some transferable skills and working methods. For starters,
never assume that an author of a publication did due diligence with the fact

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