Atelier

Pioneering Medical Devices for Wounded Soldiers : Grace Gassette (1871 – 1955)


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Grace Gassette was an American portraitist, nurse, and inventor whose impact spanned both the art world and wartime medicine. Born in Illinois, she moved to Paris in 1896, studying under Mary Cassatt and exhibiting her work in prestigious Paris salons. When World War I broke out, she managed the surgical dressing department at the American Hospital in Paris, where she invented orthopedic devices to aid wounded soldiers, earning her the Legion of Honor in 1917. After the war, she shifted her focus to rehabilitation and spiritual healing, eventually settling in a 14th-century convent in Yvelines, France. In her later years, she returned to New York, reflecting on a life dedicated to both artistic and humanitarian pursuits.


More on Grace Gassette: reidhall.globalcenters.columbia.edu/content/grace-gassette-1871-1955


The Reid Hall History Project continues to grow, enriched by the contributions of numerous collaborators: reidhall.globalcenters.columbia.edu


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Hosts: Brunhilde Biebuyck and Marie Doezema

Production: James Allen, Brunhilde Biebuyck, Marie Doezema, Krista Faurie, Charlotte Force, and Anthony Valette

Editing: Theo Albaric

Music: Lili Boulanger’s Nocturne performed by Magdalena Baczewska and Sasha He

With thanks to the Nadia and Lili Boulanger International Centre in Paris


The Columbia Global Paris Center is part of a network of 11 global centers of Columbia University in the City of New York, one of the world's leading academic institutions. The centers serve as knowledge hubs that aim to educate and inspire through research, dialogue, and action. They advance understanding, facilitate partnerships, and build the bridges necessary to tackle our changing world.


Columbia Global brings together the Columbia Global Centers, Columbia World Projects, the Committee on Global Thought, and the Institute for Ideas and Imagination.

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AtelierBy Columbia Global Paris Center