page_title: Henry Clews Jr.
section_title: Posthumous art preservation
hierarchical_section_title: Henry Clews Jr. / Posthumous art preservation
caption_attribution_description: English: Alabaster bust of Marie Elsie Whelen Clews by Henry Clews, Jr. (1876-1937), 1917, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
context_page_description: Henry Clews Jr. was an American-born artist who moved to France in 1914 in search of greater artistic freedom. He is known for the reconstruction of a Mediterranean waterfront chateau on the French Riviera a few miles west of Cannes, known as the Château de la Napoule, which today is operated by a trust and is open to the public. Together with his American wife, Elsie Whelan Goelet Clews, Clews began rebuilding the medieval fortress in 1918 and continued the fantasy-themed construction for the rest of their lives.
  The main building included an artist's studio for Henry and an adjacent seaside castle tower enclosing a lover's tomb where both Henry and Marie are laid to rest in side-by-side stone caskets.
context_section_description: After Henry's death Marie struggled to stay on at the chateau during the Second World War years when Axis forces took over the grounds. Marie lived in the gatehouse and managed to preserve much of Henry's art along with chateau relics by burying them in the expansive gardens. When the Allied forces liberated the village Marie was surprised to see that the troops were led by one of her cousins, an American officer. After the war Henry's art was re-displayed at the chateau and in 1993 the facility became designated as a historic monument administered under the French Ministry of Culture. Today it is one of the leading attractions in the region and the art of Henry Clews Jr. is on continuous public exhibition.
caption: Alabaster bust of Marie Elsie Whelen Clews by Henry Clews Jr., 1917.
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