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George Groslier (; February 4, 1887 – June 18, 1945) was a French polymath who – through his work as a painter, writer, historian, archaeologist, ethnologist, architect, photographer and curator – studied, described, popularized and worked to preserve the arts, culture and history of the Khmer Empire of Cambodia. Born in Phnom Penh to a French civil servant – he was the first French child ever born in Cambodia – Groslier was taken by his mother to France at the age of two and grew up in Marseille. Aspiring to become a painter, he tried but failed to win the prestigious Prix de Rome. Shortly afterwards, he returned to Cambodia, on a mission from the Ministry of Education. There he met and befriended a number of French scholars of traditional Cambodian culture. Under their influence, he wrote and published, in France in 1913, his initial book on this subject: Danseuses Cambodgiennes – Anciennes et Modernes ( Cambodian Dancers – Ancient and Modern). It was the very first scholarly work ever published in any language on Cambodian dance. He then returned to Cambodia, traveling the length and breadth of the country to examine its ancient monuments and architecture. From this experience came his book A l'ombre d 'Angkor; notes et impressions sur les temples inconnus de l'ancien Cambodge ( In the Shadow of Angkor: Notes and Impressions on the Unknown Temples of Ancient Cambodia). In June 1914, Groslier enlisted in the French army and was employed as a balloonist in the early part of World War I. It was during this time that he met and married sportswoman Suzanne Cecile Poujade; they eventually had three children.
He was ultimately reassigned to French Indochina because of his knowledge of the Khmer language. Upon his arrival in Phnom Penh in May 1917, he was charged with a new mission: to found a new Cambodian art museum and organize a school of Cambodian arts. From 1917 to his retirement in 1942, Groslier changed the focus of his work from that of merely describing Cambodian culture for a European audience to what he called a "rescue mission" to save the indigenous national art forms of Cambodia from destruction. His vision for the museum was to build collections from the full range of Cambodia's traditional works of art. At the art school, Groslier did not try to make the native culture adapt to that of the colonizing power; on the contrary, he insisted that the school be run by Cambodians for Cambodians and that no European influence be allowed. He was also intolerant of any attempts by Europeans to loot or damage native art. In 1923, the 22-year-old writer André Malraux, later to become world-famous, removed some bas-relief statues from a 10th Century temple, Banteay Srei, with the intention of selling them to an art museum. Although Malraux claimed that he was acting within the law, Groslier immediately had him arrested, scarring the former's reputation in Indochina. Groslier would later contemptuously refer to Malraux as " le petit voleur" ("the little thief").
Between 1920 and 1939, Groslier's family frequently traveled between France and Cambodia so that the three children could attend schools in France. In 1939, however, events leading up to the Second World War made such travel increasingly dangerous, and Suzanne was forced to remain in France with their two sons, while Nicole, their daughter, stayed with her father in Cambodia. When the Japanese military occupied Cambodia, because French colonies were then administered by the pro-Axis powers Vichy France regime, violence was initially avoided. But in March 1945, as the Allies made further advances in Asia, the Japanese relieved French officials of their authority, rounded up all foreign nationals, and placed them under guard in concentration camps. Because of his known enthusiasm for shortwave radio, Groslier was suspected by the Japanese of being part of the anti-Japanese resistance. On June 18, 1945, in Phnom Penh, while imprisoned by the Kempeitai, Groslier died under torture. He was later officially recognized as Mort pour la France ("Died in the service of France").
All Groslier's major work was inspired by his profound love and respect for the Cambodian people and their culture. Referring to his numerous talents, literary scholar Henri Copin has written: In addition to his extensive body of scholarly writings on the art, archaeology and history of the Khmer people of Cambodia, Groslier's books include detailed travelogues as well as works of fiction – such as the novel Retour à l'Argile ( Return to Clay (1928)), which won Le prix de littérature colonial (Grand Prize of Colonial Literature) in 1929 – describing his impressions of, and interactions with, Cambodians. Both institutions he founded, the National Museum of Cambodia and the Royal University of Fine Arts, are still in operation today.
Groslier began his education in Marseilles and discovered his talents for writing and painting. At the age of seven, he attended the Universal Exposition in Lyon, which featured exhibits on French Indochina, including Cambodia. He grew up with an awareness of and interest in the land in which he had been born, but no great desire to return there. In 1904, at the age of 17, George published his first book, a self-published poetry collection entitled La Chanson d'un Jeune ( Song of a Youth). Beginning about 1905, Groslier attended the prestigious École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, studying under classical painter Albert Maignan, who was then in his sixties. (Groslier would dedicate his first book about Cambodia to the older painter.) In 1908, Maignan supported Groslier in his bid to compete in the challenging Prix de Rome art competition. A victory in this contest would have essentially ensured a successful career, but despite advancing further in the competition than had been the case with many famous artists (e.g. Eugène Delacroix, Gustave Moreau, Édouard Manet and Edgar Degas), Groslier was eliminated at the final level, and the young painter took this as a crushing defeat. However, this setback turned out to be a fortunate one, as it created the opportunity for his future career in Cambodia.
Funded by a subscription from the Minister of Colonies and the "High Patronage of His Majesty Sisowath, King of Cambodia," Groslier published Danseuses Cambodgiennes – Anciennes et Modernes ( Cambodian Dancers – Ancient and Modern) in Paris in 1913. Although the first edition totaled only 30 copies, this seminal work became, in one scholar's words, "the first commentary in any language – Asian or European – on one of the world's most refined performing arts whose roots stretch to antiquity." The book's value also lies in revealing performance practices for this art form that have since vanished. Groslier, for instance, noted in his book that wires were used to suspend some performers in mid-air during one of the performances he witnessed, which no longer occurs in Cambodian traditional dance performances today.
Over the remainder of 1913, he traveled the length and breadth of the country documenting the most remote Khmer monuments and recording his impressions and adventures. Groslier traveled on his own, isolated in remote jungles, rivers and mountains in primitive and demanding conditions, assisted only by native helpers. Some of the Khmer temples he documented included Vat Phou, Preah Vihear (to which he had to hike 50 kilometers on foot), Beng Mealea, Lolei, Bakong and Banteay Chhmar, as well as temples of the Angkor group, including Ta Prohm.
From there, Groslier returned to his unit, the Fifth Squadron, now stationed in Bar-le-Duc, about 60 km south of Verdun. The town was the railhead and key supply point for the Battle of Verdun, a horrific conflict that left 250,000 dead and 500,000 wounded between February and December 1916. Although she was not authorized to accompany him, Suzanne made her way to the town to join him, using documents issued under her maiden name to avoid detection.
In August 1916, Romania entered the war and Groslier was transferred to that front on an Air Force assignment in September, to work again under his mentor, Albert Sarraut, who was mission leader. On the long, circuitous trip, his ship was falsely reported sunk, causing great sorrow to everyone but his wife, who was certain he was alive. By the time he arrived safe and sound in Bucharest, he had been promoted to corporal. He spent the winter on the Eastern Front working as a courier. At about this time, the Russian Revolution began, and his wife noted somewhat nervously in her diary that "George bore some resemblance to Joseph Stalin." After completing his duties, George went to Liverpool and then to Paris to be reunited with his wife.
Albert Sarraut was then charged with assembling an Air Force team in the Far East and, knowing Groslier was familiar with Cambodia and was fluent in the Khmer language, Sarraut had him reassigned to this mission in April 1917. Groslier headed back to French Indochina, accompanied by Suzanne.
In the words of one scholar: "From 1917 to 1942, Groslier had shaped his career as a rescue mission and established institutions, principally an art school and museum, which he described as a life raft to save Cambodia's national arts from vanishing... Those arts he had only years ago described as 'immortal' now seemed to Groslier to be on the verge of vanishing." (From this point to the end of his life, Groslier continually resided in Cambodia, returning to Europe only for brief vacations or for educational initiatives on behalf of his professional mission, e.g., the 1931 Paris International Exposition (see below).)
Groslier proved brilliant at the public relations challenge of rallying French colonial public opinion (and the administration) to the cause of saving Cambodian art. He portrayed Cambodian culture as being as venerable and exalted as French culture and bemoaned the fact that "everything here that has withstood time, wars, and religions has now succumbed to civilization... Our steamships and automobiles generate a smoke in which champa flowers wither..." In the summer of 1917, Groslier initiated a national survey to quantify the state of traditional arts, and produced a report that predictably painted a very pessimistic picture of its present condition.
Groslier went on to organize the guilds to produce and sell Cambodian art through a worldwide network, enabling artists to gain an income and self-sufficiency. He also encouraged them to produce reproductions of traditional Khmer masterpieces as a way of satisfying foreign tourists' hunger for souvenirs, and thus discourage the foreigners from stealing the original artworks of the country. This arts program, according to Copin, served the interests of the colonial power, France; however, "it also served the interests of Cambodia, spotlighting the kingdom as a unique entity within the landscape of Indochina, and fostering an assemblage of a national cultural heritage that is today fundamental to Khmer identity."
Though the two institutions were administered by Frenchmen (including of course, Groslier), he pursued his own agenda by transferring true control of both to Cambodians. In 1917, he installed the former royal architect Tep Nimit Mak as an administrator of the school, and later assembled, with great difficulty, Cambodian master artists to teach. As the institution grew, Groslier maintained his hands-off approach. As Ingrid Muan describes:
In 1923, a visiting French journalist, François de Tessan, arrived at the school and came away with a very favorable impression of both the school and Groslier, who proudly described to de Tessan its dedicated masters and students:
Groslier's approach was exactly the opposite of that of the founders of another Indochinese institution, the Hanoi-based School of Fine Arts of Indochina ( École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de l'Indochine), which sought to train Asian students in Western modes of art, rather than native styles.
In the summer of 1923, at the age of 22, he set out for Indochina with his wife, Clara, and a colleague, Louis Chevasson. The party concealed their true purpose – to take priceless traditional art objects and sell them to a European art museum – by pretending to be mere sightseeing tourists and scholars. Malraux had even received special permission from the authorities to explore the Banteay Srei site. However, upon meeting Groslier, Malraux inadvertently aroused the former's suspicions by referring repeatedly to the "commercial value" of the pieces in the Sarraut Museum.
On December 23, in his boat, the Hainan, Malraux arrived at Banteay Srei, seized four priceless statues depicting devata, which he divided into pieces and put into crates, and headed south, intending to ship his cargo to Thailand. Groslier, who had been tipped off, reached Kampong Chnang by car just as Malraux' boat arrived, went on board, identified the devata (in falsely-labeled crates), and arranged for the police to arrest the perpetrators as soon as they arrived at Phnom Penh that evening.
The incident created an enormous scandal in both colonial Indochina and France itself, despite the fact that Malraux was, at that time, virtually unknown outside French literary circles. As Copin puts it, "the controversial court cases that ensued shook the colonial administration from Indochina to Paris." In July of the following year, Malraux was sentenced to three years and Chevasson to 18 months in prison. However, there were many irregularities in the conduct of the case by the prosecution. It created a "secret dossier," withheld from the defense, with which it sought to demonize Malraux and Chevasson by their association with left-wing Bohemianism, whom it called "," and by the fact of Clara's Jewish origins.
Furthermore, the basic legal case against Malraux was very questionable. It was true that the Governor General of Indochina had designated EFEO as the protector of Indochinese archeological sites and forbade anyone except members of EFEO from taking any artifacts out of the country. However, Banteay Srei had never been officially designated as a protected site. In the words of scholar Lindsay French, "Malraux, furious that EFEO should have such a monopoly over the temples, argued that since Banteay Srei had never been specifically 'classified' as a monument to be preserved, the stones were not legal artifacts and therefore there was no legal basis for his arrest."
Over 50 prominent literary figures in France signed a petition for the release of the men. Both sentences were later reduced on appeal, and the men were eventually allowed to return to France without serving any jail time. Malraux depicted himself as the victim in the affair, as he sincerely believed that, in taking the statues, he had been acting within the law as it then existed. At least one commentator agrees that Malraux and his accomplice were treated harshly: "...if these two young men were to be imprisoned for taking the sculpture from Banteay Srei, should not the same penalty be exacted from the various Governors, High Commissioners, and administrators of Indochina who had done the very same thing to similar monuments?"
The incident had two repercussions. It prompted the colonial administration to belatedly begin a serious restoration of the decrepit Banteay Srei site, headed by Groslier's friend Parmentier, whose earlier article had brought the site to Malraux' attention in the first place. And Malraux, because he perceived himself to be the victim of what he regarded as corrupt colonial forces, began to champion the cause of the Indochinese people against the French colonists, establishing the previously apolitical artist as a serious left-wing author. One scholar defines the Banteay Srei incident and its aftermath as "how Malraux became Malraux." In 1930, he incorporated aspects of the incident into a novel about two looters journeying through the Cambodian jungle in search of treasure, titled La Voie royale. (In 1935, the book appeared in English as The Royal Way.) Although Groslier's daughter recalls that her father privately referred to Malraux as le petit voleur ("the little thief"), he never otherwise spoke of the incident, perhaps agreeing that Malraux, though guilty of stealing, had been treated unfairly by the court.
On September 17, 1929, his wife and children set out on a voyage to a home that the family owned in France, where they would remain for three years. Four days later, Groslier began a solitary journey from Phnom Penh via the Mekong River, ostensibly to inspect pagodas along his route, but actually to record, for a literary work, his impressions of the river, its wildlife and the people along its banks. (He made a second, similar journey in early 1930.) The result was the book Eaux et lumières; journal de route sur le Mékong cambodgien ( Waters and Lights: Journal of a Voyage on the Cambodian Mekong), published in 1931. Copin offers a highly laudatory description of the book's approach:
It was also during this period that he added another title to his long list of accomplishments: novelist. In 1926, he published his first novel, La Route du plus fort ( The Road of the Strongest), an overview of colonialism more critical than he could ever have made in his scholarly works. Two years later, he published his most acclaimed work of fiction Le Retour à l'argile ( Return to Clay). In his earlier book, In the Shadow of Angkor, he had indicated that he had no desire to write about Phnom Penh, as it was of little interest to him in comparison with the country's ancient temples. But by the time he wrote this novel, his attitude had changed radically. In this story about a French engineer who takes a Cambodian mistress, he sympathetically describes native urban life, contrasting it favorably with the world of Grolier's fellow Western colonists.
The book received the Grand Prize of Colonial Literature ( Le prix de littérature coloniale) in 1929, but afterwards fell into obscurity, until its re-release in modern French and English editions.
The focal point of the exhibition was a full-sized reproduction of the top level of Angkor Wat, reconstructed in the center of Paris, as well as a Cambodian pavilion that was
Suzanne Groslier's notes confirm that preparations for the exhibition began a year in advance of the official opening, so that the Cambodian exhibition was ready before those of any of the other participants. Despite the ongoing worldwide Great Depression, the exposition, which attracted 33 million visitors, was a resounding success for Cambodian art. In fact, such a demand for indigenous Cambodian crafts was created that a permanent sales office for such items was opened in Paris.
At the outbreak of the war, Suzanne headed for Lavaur in southwest France, where some of her father's family lived and where she worked as a nurse for the war effort. It was while staying in the area, both to pass the time and to do something novel for their country, that she and some friends decided to participate in the marraine de guerre (War Godmother) program, in which civilian women established pen pal relationships with soldiers at the front. After Suzanne's friends had chosen their pen pals, Suzanne took a letter from balloonist George Groslier and began a correspondence with him. As noted above, Suzanne and George fell in love and were married in May 1916. This was not unusual: many pen pal relationships begun by the War Godmother program ended in marriage.
The couple had three children, all of whom were born in Cambodia like their father:
The last child, , would follow in his father's footsteps and become a renowned archaeologist and curator of the National Museum of Cambodia.
During the children's youth, they spent much time in France at the family home there and attending school. In June 1939, just before the outbreak of a new war, Suzanne traveled to France with young Bernard (Gilbert had already been in the country for several years as a high school student), while Nicole remained behind with her father. In June 1940, the Nazis invaded France, and Suzanne and her sons eventually took refuge in unoccupied Vichy France southern France, whose administration still controlled the French colonies, including Cambodia. However, because of the war, sea travel between France and Southeast Asia was disrupted, and neither Suzanne, Gilbert, nor Bernard would ever see Groslier again.
However, because France was officially, at that time, an ally of Japan, Cambodia temporarily avoided the violence and disorder that was tearing apart so much of the rest of the world, and the life of the French colonists, although more isolated from the outside world, went on more or less as before. It was during this period that Groslier, who was still in his fifties, retired. At this time, also, the Japanese became increasingly interested in Cambodian culture, particularly Angkor. A translation of Groslier's 1924 book on the subject, Angkor, was published by a Japanese press in Tokyo under the title Ankōru no iseki ( Ruins of Angkor).
The political situation changed drastically in August 1944, when Paris was liberated by Allied forces. The Vichy government shortly afterwards collapsed. (Groslier's son, Bernard, participated actively in the French Resistance.) In Asia, too, the Allies were encroaching upon the increasingly desperate Japanese. On March 9, 1945, Japanese authorities, promising autonomy to the local population, overthrew the French colonial regime, and four days later Norodom Sihanouk declared Cambodia's independence from France and its alliance with the crumbling Japanese Empire.
The Japanese proceeded to round up all foreign nationals in the country, including Groslier and his daughter, and place them in concentration camps. As Nicole Groslier describes it:
Since at least the 1930s, Groslier had been a passionate shortwave radio enthusiast. (A photo dating from 1933 reveals his rather sophisticated system, and it may have become more elaborate in the intervening years.) This fact aroused the suspicions of the Japanese authorities, who feared that Groslier might be using his radio to help anti-occupation forces within the country. Nicole later insisted that her father used his radio solely to listen to music. However, Copin remarks that he "apparently supported local resistance efforts," and Davis concedes that this was at least possible, though not proven. Eyewitnesses in the camp report that the Japanese military police, the Kempeitai, interrogated Groslier, tortured him, and returned him to his cell dead or dying on the morning of June 18, 1945.
Nicole, who had not been notified of her father's fate, was called into the office of the camp commander. Without a word, the man gestured in the direction of a nearby table. On or near the table were her father's last remains: his eyeglasses, a pair of shoes and his ashes in a box. She retrieved the objects and left. "My God," she later wrote, "I was frightened and lonely that day." After Indochina was re-occupied by the French (with Bernard as part of this invading force), Groslier's ashes were sent to France, where they are now interred.
On May 5, 1947, the French government officially recognized Groslier as " Mort pour la France," a term traditionally used for military personnel and civilians, killed during a period of French military conflict, who are considered to have died in service to their country.
In 2008, DatAsia Press editor Kent Davis began working with Nicole Groslier and her family, documenting her father's life, translating a number of his books to English, and restoring them to print, as listed in the bibliography below.
In October 2015, the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh honored Groslier with a statue next to H. M. Sisowath on the school grounds.
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