"I learned something really interesting that goes so well with our History of Museums class. There was a presentation given by some of my classmates based on an article by Martin Pate called "Archaeology in Two Dimensions: The Artist's Perspective". I haven't read the article, but from what my classmates presented, I'm not sure I'm going to trust anything I see in museums anymore. The presentation was on how artists create the murals/paintings that we see in museums. For example, have you seen the Sue the dinosaur mural above the Sue the dinosaur skeleton in the Field Museum? That type of painting. They said that, in general, a painting is 80% historically correct because of collaboration between archaeologist and artist, but 20% of it is created from the artist's mind. I can imagine that this 20% is what people would be most attracted to when viewing the painting... it's the most creative/eye-catching part of the painting created from the artist's imagination (which is vivid!).
I thought it was something cool that related to what we've been talking about in class, the validity of artifacts and artwork and everything in museums."
I was engrossed with the article Andrew Kimball and I had to read on the Glastonbury Lake Village and Forestier's depiction of the village. Andrew provided me with additional information on the physical build of the village which the article lacked, like how this village of logs was constructed as a sort of island. Artistically analyzing the painting was fun, and important, because an artist does everything intentionally when creating a work of art, and thus, everything has a meaning. Below are my notes that I took when reading the article:
“To Make the Dry Bones Live”: Amedee Forestier Glastonbury Lake Village
- 1892 – Discovery of the Glastonbury Lake Village near Glastonbury in the West of England.
- Discovered by Arthur Bulleid, a resident of Glastonbury. Began search in 1888, found village in 1892 in Somerset swamps.
o Wealth of Iron Age evidence - 1898
– Excavation ends, Bulleid writes article for The Illustrated London News.
o Britain’s first illustrated weekly newspaper o Great purveyor of latest archaeological discoveries
§ Role the newspaper played in the transmission of archaeology to a mass non-specialist audience
- Sir Bruce Ingram – Editor of ILN, responsible for bringing archaeology to the general public.
o “Difficulty of combining technical accuracy with an exposition simple enough for the comprehension of the layman”
- ILN used pictures as the primary medium to convey the news of the day
o Inclusion of imaginative reconstructions of life in ancient times
o Illustrations produced by Amedee Forestier - Amedee Forestier
o French, studied at Ecole des Beaux-Arts (most famous art school in France)
o Produced illustrations for remainder of 19th century
o 1911 – Forestier produced reconstructions of Glastonbury Lake Village, 8 illustrations
o “especially interested in prehistoric man and loved to bring him to life”
o “most careful reconstructions based on scientific research”
- Five photographic images of artifacts included in ILN article – bronze bowl, ladder, jet ring alongside a sling stone, decorated comb, wooden table
o Can be observed in Forestier’s reconstructions
o “The occupations and amusements illustrated in this number are proved by the actual finds”
- Artistic reconstructions of the past are produced to convey a specific message about the period
- However, these pictures produced for a specific reason: to challenge outdated representations of the Iron Age
o Give image of a civilized Iron Age, not the usual savage ancient Briton
- Stress on artistic qualities of peoples
o Sign of civility - Most compelling images of the Iron Age:
o 1) Figure of warrior chief, 2) Life in the roundhouse
- Successful reconstruction: cram as much information into a small space to convey different facets of Iron Age life.
- Most famous image of Iron Age: warrior Celt
o Dominates Forestier’s scene on the jetty
o Warrior image has been employed with the greatest effect to represent the ancient Britons
§ An impression of savagery and primitiveness
§ Forestier required an alternative source of inspiration
- Warriors – Glastonbury warriors appear to have their visual origins in French depictions of the ancient Gauls.
o Gauls – noble and civilized nature, Forestier chose this depiction of the warrior.
§ Impression of civilization
o Forestier’s warriors resemble his Roman soldiers
§ Also symbol of civilization, contrast with “uncivilized” ancient Britons
- Forestier’s use of the civilized ancient Briton in the person of the warrior (civilized with hard edge) – reference to international situation at the time (tension in Europe).
o Patriotic note
o Long civilized British nation – older civilized nature than other nations
- Contradiction – severed heads stuck on poles at the entrance to the village
o “Civilized maybe, but not quite there yet?”
o Human bones found on site – violent end to village, or no catastrophic end?
- Roundhouse – house a sign of civilization, while lack of house a sign of primitiveness.
o Roundhouse in Forestier’s image – cozy familiarity of a family gathering
o Women dominate scene of everyday life, but the male is the returning hunter, the central figure
§ Male in light, women in shadow
o Civilized Iron Age family group
o Early 20th century gender roles being projected onto the Iron Age – relate the present time to the past – Edwardian Iron Age
o 1911 a time of social unrest in Britain – naturalization of Edwardian values, image to neutralize the perceived threat to the traditional order by providing the people with historical legitimacy
§ Everyone in village in their natural place in society
- Conclusion – Images of past created for the consumption of the reading public
Notes on art devices:
- Composition: The angling of the three boats at the bottom of the painting towards the center of the painting, to the chief, creates a sort of triangular, hierarchal shape that moves the eye from the bottom of the painting to the top. This is a possible indication of the hierarchy that existed in the village.
- The color blue is the dominant tone of the entire painting. It is known that the color blue is symbolic of calmness, being soothed, and peace. Forestier may have been reinforcing the idea of a civilized community of people in the lake village by incorporating blue into the entire image.
- At once when a viewer sees the painting, one of the most noticeable aspects of it is the amount of wood structures involved. Forestier was trying to connect the excavation photos, which contains large amounts of excavated wood, with the painting, to make it more believable. Wood is a connecting factor between the excavated past and the painting.
- Additionally, the medium which an artist picks is highly important in what they are trying to convey to their viewers. Watercolors are stereotypically thought of as a medium for children, something soft and easy to blend. Perhaps Forestier's use of watercolors is again trying to reinforce this image of calmness and perhaps even a certain innocence, a lack of brute personality which is stereotypically bestowed upon the people of the Iron Age.
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