Acropolis, Space, Fall 2013

ACROPOLIS

SPACE

5 ACROPOLIS

Contributors Co-Editors-in-Chief Joel Carela || Sophie Helm Executive Layout Katelyn Lindsey Scholarship Morgan Doyle Features Matthew Chiarello Photography Josie Shawver Other Contributors Veronica Over Linda Moses Josie Drury Kaitlin Noe Molly Adair Kate Fleming Emmie Murphy Front Cover|Erich Heckel,M채nnerbildnis (Portrait of A Man), 1919 Back Cover |Clyfford Still,1948-C,1948

6

Self Portrait by Molly Adair

1 ACROPOLIS TABLE OF CONTENTS

Letters from the Editors Contributors “Two Truths and a Lie: Summer Sketchbook Project”

by Katelyn Lindsey “La Biennale”

by Linda Moses “Street Art in Space” by Veronica Over Williamsburg Art District Gallery Listings “A New Unity: The Picturesque and the Public”

by Josie Drury “Flag, Imagery, Symbolism, and Visual Representations Throughout the Civil War”

by Emmie Murphy “Letter from the Founder” by Michelle Repper Senior Profile- Kaitlin Noe Academic Major Requirements

OPPOSITE: PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST WINNER Camping on the Colorado River by Eric Dale

ACROPOLIS FALL 2013 SPACE Dear Art Lovers, Welcome to the Fall 2013 issue of Acropolis magazine. This semester, we are honored to carry on the legacy as editors of the first and only Art and Art History Magazine here at William and Mary. Coming from two vastly different academic backgrounds, urban studies and art history, we have found a shared passion for this issue’s theme of Space. The Acropolis staff collectively chose the theme of Space because it is a dynamic subject in both artistic culture and daily life. Space can be interpreted in the physical realm of everyday human existence or can be studied in a more implicit manner by how the viewer experiences space through the emotional connectivity of an artwork.

We wanted the interpretation of space to be left up to the readers of this issue. How can space affect the way we feel? How can space envelop our physical being or prompt our minds to see an object in a different way? Can the absence of space create something new entirely?

Space can be apparent in an artwork itself as well as in the area it fills. The viewer must decide if the artwork and the space connect symbiotically or clash causing the work’s message to be lost. This issue attempts to explore, critique, and comment on the usage of space in a global and local arena. Every day, artists, famous or not, are finding new ways to utilize the surface environments of our world. Next time you go to your favorite study spot, social space, or comfort zone, reflect and question why that space is important to you.

We, as your editors-in-chief, are thrilled to present the wonderful creative thoughts and ideas of William and Mary students. They have shaped this issue with their cuttingedge thoughts and creative views on the art world. We all thank you for your support and interest in the Acropolis and the arts. Enjoy the Fall issue, Acropolis readers!

Your Editors, Joel and Sophie

La Reflexi贸n by Joel Carela

7 ACROPOLIS “Two Truths & A Lie: Summer Sketchbook Project.”

Last May senior art students took up empty sketchbooks and were charged with the task of drawing twice a day. Molly Adair and Kate Fleming, whose works were showcased in Andrews Gallery, shared with me their perspective on the assignment and exhibition.

ACROPOLIS: How did you feel about having to be dedicated to developing your sketchbook over your summer?

Molly: This task seemed unbelievably daunting when we were first handed the blank sketchbooks, but ended up being a really helpful exercise.

Kate: Having a project like the sketchbook assignment is very demanding. Deciding to sketch every single day is like deciding to run or go to the gym every day -- you know it’s really good for you and it’s always satisfying once you’re doing it, but sometimes it’s hard to get motivated. I knew it would be difficult to keep up with, but I was excited about the possibility of improving my work. Drawing improves with repetition and practice just like anything else.

ACROPOLIS: Did you find yourself looking forward to your daily drawing assignments?

Molly: At first, it was difficult to motivate myself to draw -- 60 minutes seems like a lot when it’s the first few weeks of summer and all I really wanted to do was binge through shows on Netflix. But by the end of the summer, drawing became second nature. Though there were days I missed here and there, it was highly satisfying to return from the summer with three full sketchbooks of work from the summer.

Kate: Sometimes I did and sometimes I didn’t. Drawing is exciting when you’re feeling inspired or you see something you really want to draw. But there were definitely days where I couldn’t think of anything to draw and so I just didn’t. I tried to keep myself inspired by going to different locations around Arlington, where I live. I would sometimes go down to the river by Roosevelt Island and draw the view of the monuments, or go to the Smithsonian and sketch from master works at the National Gallery. Sometimes I used the drawing assignment as planning for a painting. This is always the easiest way for me to make a drawing.

ACROPOLIS: What did you find yourself most drawn towards when you were sketching?

Molly: Initially it was just things around me - my cluttered desk, my breakfast, the way my pillow was sitting on my bed. But as the summer progressed, I started to look for more interesting things - getting the correct angle of the handrail on the steps of the Sunken Gardens or the skyline at sunset. I started to look at things more critically the more I drew.

Kate: I spent a month of my summer studying abroad in Sorrento, Italy, where I was taking a painting class. I got really excited about drawing and painting the colorful and geometric buildings of Sorrento, which then carried over into my drawings when I got home. Architecture was probably the biggest focus in my sketchbook. In addition to architecture, I also did a lot of self-portraits and compositional studies. I did self-portraits because they’re a great way to study the figure without having someone sit for you. Compositional studies are usually the type of drawings that fill my sketchbooks. I do a lot of studies before I make a painting or a drawing -- no matter how quick -- because a work of art is only as strong as its composition, and it takes a lot of studies to get it right.

FEATURES 8 ACROPOLIS: Was their a certain time or location you preferred to do you drawings?

Molly: This summer was busy, so ultimately I just drew when I had time!

Kate: There were a lot of days when I didn’t start drawing until right before bed because I was uninspired and putting it off all day. In Italy, I learned that the best light of the day is usually around 9:00 or 10:00 am and around 4:00 pm, so I would often try to draw during those hours. I switched up the location a lot, but my sketchbook does contain a lot of interior scenes at home.

ACROPOLIS: Did you notice any changes in your sketches throughout the summer?

Molly: There were noticeable changes in content as I started to look at different things to draw, but the biggest change was my drawing ability. My skills were immensely better by the end of the summer than they were at the beginning. This was very beneficial hopping right into a busy first semester of art classes, as there was no “warm-up” period or time at the beginning of the semester where I needed to get used to drawing again. I was able to jump right in at a drawing point even better than I had left in the spring.

Kate: My sketches became a lot quicker and more relaxed, in a way, as time went on. My work is often very clean and geometric, so by “relaxed” I don’t mean “sketchy,” I mean that I allowed myself to make a drawing in 15 minutes and then move on. The first drawing I did took me over an hour because I’m a perfectionist and I didn’t know how to tell myself to stop and just let the drawing be a sketchbook drawing. My drawings became less like finished products and more like learning experiences, which is what I think they were meant to be.

ACROPOLIS: What were the pieces you chose to show for the exhibition and why did you choose to exhibit those pieces?

Molly: For my pieces for the show, I chose a sketch of bananas and a sketch of two friends lounging on a bed. I thought both were some of my stronger, more interesting sketches from the summer and demonstrated my range in drawing style as well.

For my third piece in the show I chose a scratchboard selfportrait that I completed last fall.

Kate: Each of us had to pick two sketchbook pages and any third piece of our choosing for the show. For my first piece, I chose a sketchbook page from a few days after I got back from Italy. It shows how I was beginning to apply what I learned in Italy to my work back home. The page is a series of compositional studies of my next-door neighbor’s house in Arlington. I was also experimenting with ink wash,

9 ACROPOLIS which I hadn’t really used before. The second sketchbook page I chose is a series of compositional studies done with a large felt-tip pen. This medium forced me to focus on the big moves and make bold, confident marks while I searched for interesting compositions within a somewhat mundane interior scene. For my third piece, I picked one of my favorite paintings from Italy. The geometry and compositional sense echo the other two pieces I chose to put in the show while displaying the exploration of color, light, and space I engaged with in Sorrento.

ACROPOLIS: What was it like showing your sketches along with all your classmates?

Molly: As senior art majors, we all have to take similar classes, but because of the structure of the 2D vs. 3D tracks and the flexible nature of your concentration within those tracks, all of us have come from a very different range of classes in the past few years. Our work is all very different, which I thought would make hanging a show more difficult. In reality, we picked up on a lot of similarities and common themes within pieces, which we tried to emphasize in the organization. As a collective, we decided to hang the show based on pieces that worked well together, which meant that pieces by the same person were not necessarily hung next to one another. I think this was the best possible choice we could have made. We spent a lot of time organizing and reorganizing until finally agreeing upon the ideal setup for the show.

Kate: Hanging a show with eleven other people was definitely a challenge. It’s hard to create a show that seems cohesive while including the work of twelve different artists (and twelve different opinions) all mixed together. I learned a lot through both the process of hanging the show and by looking at my peers’ work. Everyone took a different approach to the assignment, yet sometimes there were amazing similarities as well.

ACROPOLIS: What were your thoughts on the complete exhibition?

Molly: Working on the show and then seeing the opening was a very cool experience unlike anything I’d done before.

Kate: The exhibition turned out great! Once everything was finally all matted, framed, and hung, all the work and time that went into the show seemed worth it. I think we all learned a lot about collaboration. I was really happy with how the show looked.

FEATURES 10 ACROPOLIS: What is it like being an art major at William and Mary?

Molly: Something I didn’t anticipate being an art major is how close you become with the department and other majors. When you have six hours of one class a week as opposed to three, you’re already posed to get to know everyone better just based on time you spend together. But art classes are very personal in nature, so you develop very strong relationships with those you take classes with. Being an art major can be difficult and exhausting (as I believe any major can), but I see it as the most rewarding. I’ve become very involved in my minor in the business school recently, which has provided a stark juxtaposition of the art department against the business school.

Kate: Being an art major at William and Mary is a really unique experience. There are only twelve senior art majors and we’ve gotten to know each other well. We are all required to take a yearlong course called Senior Exhibition in which we prepare for our senior show as well as the sketchbook show. We also have a couple of critiques per semester that can last for six or seven hours on a Saturday. In addition to that, our studio classes last for three hours twice a week and many of us have class together.

Being an art major is demanding in a variety of ways. To be an art major, you really have to care about what you’re doing. The amount of thought and effort you put into your work is immediately evident in what you create. You stop thinking about grades and the amount of hours you spend in the studio and really just sincerely want to make good work. If you don’t care, it shows. Being an art major demands so much, but it can also be really rewarding. I talk to my professors one-on-one several times a week and I know they genuinely care about my work. They must push past me to my breaking point, but I know they have my best interests in mind. Being an art major is both uniquely demanding and rewarding.

ACROPOLIS: What other projects are on the horizon for you?

Molly: This was technically a practice round before our final show in May, so I’m looking forward to working with the other senior majors for that one, too!

Kate: There is currently a show of my work from Sorrento hanging in the Andrews Gallery as a part of the Carton Schented senior Olars Show. Katie Wood and Colleen Swingle, who are both very talented senior art majors, also have a lot of experience in hanging works in the show. Other than that, I’m just continuing to paint and I’m learning woodblock printing.

11 ACROPOLIS La Biennale

by Linda Moses

It was my first time visiting Venice purely to see contemporary art. I had heard about La Biennale from a friend and the sound of this huge multi-arts festival occurring bi-annually, quite frankly, got me to force my family over there.

This year, the 55th Biennale is themed Encyclopedic Palace. It features over 150 artists from 37 countries. The exhibit spaces are divided into the central pavilion, which houses the main year-long services and activities of La Biennale, the Giardini, which is comprised of 29 national pavilions, and the Arsenale, which includes 5 exhibition spaces of its own, as well as a theater for live performances.

Given the short time I was there, I only was able to experience the central pavilion and the Giardini.

Among the pavilions that stuck with me the most was that of the Republic of Korea, featuring the art of Kimsooja.

I remember wandering down a tree-lined street in this odd bubble of a world. I felt like a piece on a board game, stopping every so often to explore a country’s exhibit, then leaving again to discover a new destination. I spotted Korea’s structure behind trees because the sun exposed its translucent nature; it was a bright, plastic-like construction with folds and bends, and numerous people were wandering inside.

The structure drew me closer, and I approached a seemingly endless line of curious viewers. I noticed that the walls were composed of this rainbow-inducing material that seemed to let the sun’s rays in at different angles. The unusual nature of this edifice held my gaze, and I knew I was going to stay.

I eventually reached the front of the line where this guy had been repeating the same spiel too quickly to comprehend. He said something about the paper he was handing me that had a number on it and smiled a full smile so I walked a bit hesitantly through the door and into this creation.

And then I felt. I just looked down and looked up and looked forward and all around and glided along the floor. And it was infinite. I really felt infinite. And it was simple. The floor was a mirror, the sides were a mirror, the ceiling was a mirror. Little traces of the visible color spectrum streaked the environment, creating this fantastical effect. I could look down and see my face a trillion times: a reflection on the floor onto the ceiling onto the floor, and so on. Back and forth. The space was endless. It was an out-of-body experience; I could feel the ground, I knew what I saw, and yet, the endless limits of my sight made me question my reality. I couldn’t help but wonder if the expanse really ended where my feet met the ground.

I looked at other people. Some of them were smiling. Or talking, or pointing. But most separated themselves from their families, their friends, their significant others. They found a corner, or sat on the ground, and just stared at their reflection. Every so often, they would get up slowly, moving an arm or a leg, fascinated at the way their movement provoked a change in what they saw. The communication with their body and this infinite space. I realized that their existence directly influenced it, and wondered what it would be without them. The space required the engagement of a viewer. I decided that.

Eventually, I got up and noticed that, rather than leaving, people were starting to form another line within the pavilion to what looked like a second section of the exhibit. Excited for more, I got in line, soon realizing that the numbered paper I had initially been handed provided entry into this second room. So I waited for about five minutes until it was my turn next, and another smiling man spoke quickly like the first. Before I knew it, I was handing him my ticket and barely caught the words “in here for a minute” and “come out any time.” I didn’t know what to expect. I had watched the faces of people who had come in and out before me and couldn’t discern any strong emotions. No anger, no perplexity, no fear, no excitement. There was just a dazed look on each person’s face. I

FEATURES 12 had tried to glance into the room when the previous group had left, but I only saw darkness.

I distinctly remember the sound of the door closing, watching the beams of light narrow, and turn into a thin crack before completely disappearing. I don’t think I had ever experienced absolute darkness before that moment. Even when I thought I had, I feel like there had always been a little sign of environment, of life, even of my own existence. But this feeling was completely new to me. It was as though I couldn’t even tell if my body was still there, if the other people were still there, if anything at all was still there. I tried to breathe noticeably and listen to others, but no one made a sound. It was peaceful. But I couldn’t help but think of sound, and think of color. Perhaps these are necessary. In their absence, I believe we may form them automatically. I found myself trying to picture a space, but I had no sense of how big or small the room was. In the emptiness, my mind was the space. Even in the silence, there was a sound. Simon and Garfunkel got it right. And it didn’t feel a second shorter, or a second longer, than one minute.

And then it was over. The door opened and the world flooded in. People’s words and the light and sound and color. And I couldn’t help but think: how much time do we dedicate completely to ourselves?

The Korean Pavillion

photo by thierry depagne, © kimsooja studio

13 ACROPOLIS

Street Art in Space Veronica Over

“the best street art and graffiti are illegal.”

- Cedar Lewisohn

A gaping hole leading to oblivion has opened in Sergels torg Square in Stockholm. The triangular black and white pattern that originally covered the concrete floor now falls away to reveal craggy cliff walls. One large black triangular piece of pavement tips forward as though seconds from crashing downwards into the abyss. The day’s commuters skirt the edges of this new anomaly or else stride boldly across it, hurrying towards their destination. Others take pictures. This optical photographic illusion was implanted in the Swedish cityscape by artist Erik Johansson in the summer of 2011. It takes effect from one viewing position on the level above, invoking awe as a three dimensional bottomless pit comes into focus on the sidewalk. This piece stood undisturbed between June 7th and June 12th allowing passersby to interact with their everyday space in a new and unique way for an ephemeral amount of time. A myriad of pictures and videos of Stockholm’s inhabitants interacting with the installation appeared online and for a brief time it was a minor attraction within the city. While Erik Johansson is not considered one of the most influential street artists, only having exhibited a couple of street art installations, his work embodies the street artists’ interaction with space.

The intention of street art is to impose striking new perspective on lived-in and overlooked spaces. It interrupts the viewer’s otherwise predictable regimen to propose unpredicted ideas. In Mind Your Step, Johansson inserts surreal oblivion into the viewer’s daily routine thus forcing Stockholm’s residents to pause and question notions of existence and mortality in an otherwise preoccupied lifestyle. Like all street art this piece is both accessible and unexpected, its existence in the public space, instantly giving it new meaning. Art in a gallery already has context and credibility. Its controversial nature is anticipated and invited by those who go out of their way to seek it. In addition, it is a removed conceptual entity. Placed in a space separate from the practical world, it can be considered without real-life application and thus forgotten. However, when one is confronted with those same controversial concepts in daily life, removed from their pedestal, they become a reality and actively interact with the viewers’ lives.

One should not mistake graffiti for street art, as their intentions and use of the public space are entirely different. Graffiti is meant to act as a secret language between privy groups. This language is incoherent to the common person and makes no attempt to communicate with the vast majority of those who view it. Street art however uses the public space to connect with the masses in a unique and profound way. Indeed its existence in the public space means that it is meant to be received by a much wider variety of people who may have never appreciated art before in their lives. Many street artists are active advocates for art accessibility. Keith Haring was quoted as saying, “The public needs art, and it is the responsibility of a ‘self-proclaimed’ artist to realize the public needs art, and not to make bourgeois art for the few and ignore the masses.” This accessibility is often achieved

FEATURES 14 through graphically obvious symbols or images that assert the artist’s message directly. Ambiguity may be prevalent-- street artists often prefer to pose a question rather than an answer-- but the message is never convoluted by artistic style. The viewers need never to have studied Rembrandt or Van Gogh to accurately receive the artist’s intention.

Moreover, street artists often make an active effort to integrate their art into the space and setting to more effectively communicate with the lives of passersby. Consider Banksy’s untitled piece on the side of a Poundland variety store in London. A life-size sweatshop boy in black spray-paint stencil is crouched on the sidewalk, busy at a sewing machine. Running from the sewing machine is real bunting of the British flag that is strung up along the rest of the wall. Banksy’s message questioning the capitalism of the upcoming Olympic games is made much more direct and confrontational because of its interaction with reality. The tangibility of the bunting and the realistic size of the child assert themselves into the viewer’s life, insisting on the art’s relevance.

Street art’s interaction with setting can also propose a commentary on said setting. In John Fekner’s No TV/Read campaign in the 80s, he imposed his stencil on various locations with TVs including a

dumpster full of broken ones outside of a TV store. Keith Haring famously poked fun at the advertising industry by drawing lewd mock-advertisements on the advertising spaces in the New York subway. More abstractly, the placement of street art within a city can comment on the area where it is placed. Is the controversial piece commenting on gay rights placed in the young hip neighborhood or in a conservative upper-class area? Are inspirational uplifting pieces composed on crumbling concrete walls in the inter-city or on the façade of a coffee shop in a well to-do community? In this way street art is again unique, its placement within society just as indicative as its composition.

Yet another component of street art’s use of public space is its illegality. Cedar Lewisohn who wrote Street Art: The Graffiti Revolution believes that “the best street art and graffiti are illegal.” In many ways he is correct in that the potency of a piece’s message can be compromised if it is created within the law. Illegal works can criticize the status quo both politically and ethically in ways that sanctioned works cannot. Moreover, illegal street art is made all at once, appearing suddenly and

15 ACROPOLIS

startling the viewers who have become accustomed to the space. The government’s obligation to remove graffiti also introduces the question of freedom of speech that artists use as another element to their medium. The street artist DS entertained this principle by imposing a photographic stencil of the man who removed his previous artwork on the spot which the same man had painted over that day. This piece provides commentary that is ironic, humorous, and somewhat existential, an excellent example of how illegality can add power to an artist’s message.

Street art accesses people’s lives in ways that no other art form does. It injects relevance into artistic concepts and confronts viewers when they least expect it. This potency is achieved through street art’s unique interaction with space, its existence in the public domain perhaps its most meaningful aspect. By using the public space, street art exposes to the politically correct world ideas of social change and controversy. The youth movement is alive in street art and because of this, it has become increasingly popular among contemporary pop culture. Works by Obey and Keith Haring have appeared on T-shirts and IPhone covers. Those who have never considered the famous old masters own Banksy paraphernalia. There is something alluringly rebellious about street art that has made it so important for today’s youth and these effects are exactly intended. In this age of bourgeoning globalization, political and ethical issues are becoming increasingly relevant to the general public. The United States no longer shies away from the contested concepts of gay rights or abortion or the legalization of drugs. Street art has become an intuitive expression of the current progressive drive and it is gaining momentum not only as an artistic movement, but also as a social one.

Hering Painting the Berlin Wall, 1980’s

FEATURES 16

BIBLIOGRAPHY

7. John Fekner, “No TV/Read,” John Fekner, accessed October 19, 2013, http://johnfekner.com/feknerArchive/?p=1255.

8. “To New York,” The Keith Haring Foundation, accessed October BBC. “’Banksy’ boy worker image on Poundland shop wall.” BBC 19, 2013, http://www.haring.com/!/about-haring/to-new-york.

News. Last modified May 16, 2012. Accessed October 19, 2013.

9. Lewisohn, Street Art: The Graffiti, 27. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18075620.

10. Lewisohn, Street Art: The Graffiti, 27.

“Before and After.” DS Art. Accessed October 19, 2013. http://www. 11. Lewisohn, Street Art: The Graffiti, 27.

12.“Before and After,” DS Art, accessed October 19, 2013, http:// dsart.co.uk/gallery/. www.dsart.co.uk/gallery/.

Fekner, John. “No TV/Read.” John Fekner. Accessed October 19, 2013. http://johnfekner.com/feknerArchive/?p=1255.

Johansson, Erik. “Mind your step.” Erik Johansson: Photo & Retouch.

Accessed October 19, 2013. http://erikjohanssonphoto.com/work/ mind-your-step/.

Lewisohn, Cedar. Street Art: The Graffiti Revolution. New York, NY: Abrams, 2008.

“To New York.” The Keith Haring Foundation. Accessed October 19, 2013. http://www.haring.com/!/about-haring/to-new-york.

ENDNOTES 1. Erik Johansson, “Mind your step,” Erik Johansson: Photo & Retouch, accessed October 19, 2013, http://erikjohanssonphoto.com/ work/mind-your-step/.

2. Cedar Lewisohn, Street Art: The Graffiti Revolution (New York, NY: Abrams, 2008), 100.

3. Lewisohn, Street Art: The Graffiti, 15.

4. Lewisohn, Street Art: The Graffiti, 15.

5. Keith Haring as quoted by Lewisohn, Street Art: The Graffiti, 1.

6. “’Banksy’ boy worker image on Poundland shop wall,” BBC News, last modified May 16, 2012, accessed October 19, 2013, http:// www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18075620.

Images in the Order as they Appear “Banksy’s Latest Piece Spotted In London,” 2 Oceans Vibe, last modified May 15, 2012, accessed October 19, 2013, http:// www.2oceansvibe.com/2012/05/15/banksys-latest-piece-spottedin-london/.

“Before and After,” DS Art, accessed October 19, 2013, http://www. dsart.co.uk/gallery/.jpg&w=340&h=250&zc=1&q=85 Accessed Nov. 3, 2013. Accessed 11/05/13.

Erik Johansson, Mind Your Step. Erik Johansson, Mind Your Step. http://www.illusionow.com/wp-content/themes/marikit/functions/ timthumb.php?src=http://www.illusionow.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Mind-Your-Step-2.

John Fekner, “No TV/Read,” John Fekner, accessed October 19, 2013, http://johnfekner.com/feknerArchive/?p=1255.

Keith Hering Painting the Berlin Wall, 1980’s. http://globalgraphica. com/2011/09/06/9544/. Accessed 11/05/2013 “To New York,” The Keith Haring Foundation, accessed October 19, 2013, http://www.haring.com/!/about-haring/to-new-york.

17 ACROPOLIS

The Williamsburg Arts District, located generally between Richmond Road and Lafayette Street in the blocks of Bacon Street, Westover, Shirley, Delaware and Wythe Avenues, was created

by City Council in February 2011 and provides incentives to encourage creative businesses, including visual and performing artists, culinary artists, graphic designers, architects, the communications and computer industries -- and other endeavors where the “capital” is creativity.

Currently there are 42 businesses located in the Arts District and in November 2012 a group of business owners in the Arts District (with the encouragement of Michelle Dewitt, Williamsburg Economic Development) decided to form the Williamsburg Arts District Association. The mission of the association is “to stimulate and encourage the continuing development and awareness of arts and cultural opportunities in the Williamsburg Arts District.”

The Association has started some long and short term planning to help make the Arts District a success. We envision it to be a place where locales will look forward to going for Block Parties in the Arts District, a place where tourists will take the trolley from Colonial Williamsburg and say ‘WOW, Williamsburg is full of history and full of culture”, a place where College artists will say, “Hey! I don’t have to leave Williamsburg to have a career as an artist”.

WADA holds monthly meetings at the Virginia Regional Ballet, located adjacent to the Williamsburg Community Pool. On the agenda this month: Spring Battle of the Bands Block Party, Wish List for area improvements, ideas on how to grow the Arts District and more. If you would like to get involved or just sit in on a meeting, please contact Adelle Carpenter via email at Adelle@danceVRB.com.

FEATURES 18

williamsburg

Artcafe26

Gallery on Merchants Square

Linda Matney Fine Art Gallery

Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William and Mary

MAD About Chocolate

New Town Art Gallery

The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum

The DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum This Century Art Gallery

Chrysler Museum of Art Norfolk, Virginia

Penninsula Fine Arts Center Newport News, Virginia

Taubman Museum of Art Roanoke, Virginia

Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art Virginia Beach, Virginia

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Richmond, Virginia

virginia

Gallery5

Richmond, Virginia

Untitled by Molly Martien

SCHOLARSHIP 20 A New Unity The Pictaresque and The Public Josie Drury

Figure 1. “The Greensward Plan.” Olmsted, Fredrick Law. Forty Years of Landscape Architecture: Central Park. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1973. 215.

In the 1850s, New York City was one of the most rapidly growing cities in the United States. With

the seemingly never-ending amount of people moving into the city, the population was rising at an alarmingly fast pace. This increase in population caused real estate prices to skyrocket; undeveloped land was becoming scarce as overcrowding and pollution became huge problems within the inner city. These issues were a great concern to architect and designer Fredrick Law Olmsted, who saw how urban overcrowding was not only changing the living conditions of millions but also affecting their behavior. Olmsted knew something had to change in order to bring people back to the harmonious relationship they once had with nature and with one another. A spacious public park, with plenty of natural elements and picturesque scenes, was just the solution New York City needed.

Despite the many challenges of building a picturesque park within in an urban environment, Olmsted remained true to his vision of a Central Park that unified picturesque ideals and public need.

After being appointed Superintendent of the Board of Commissioners, Olmsted, along with his partner Calvert Vaux, created the winning design for New York’s Central Park. Olmsted wanted to create a space that embodied natural, picturesque scenes while blocking out all aspects of the surrounding city life, which he knew would be no easy task. Before the construction of Central Park, the only official public green spaces in New York City were those of small, dark gardens located in between towering buildings and gloomy cemeteries. The recent spread of city buildings made such spaces even more limited, leaving only distant memories of pleasurable gardenscapes. Olmsted recognized that the citizens of the city were in desperate need of rural parks “which would be free of mournful suggestion.”1 The first challenge for Olmsted was creating the illusion of a vast and endless picturesque space within the appointed acres of Central Park. In accordance with the stylistic traditions of the picturesque, the layout of Central Park would require an irregular plan that allowed trees and plants to grow in a natural manner. Creating successive scenes of continuous extension into the distance would challenging, since there was only limited amount of space designated for Central Park.

The purposed lot was, “…bounded by Fifty-ninth street on the south, and one hundred and sixth street in the north, by

21 ACROPOLIS the Fifth avenue on the east, and the Eighth avenue on the west, forming a parallelogram of some 770 acres, of which about 150 acres are reserved for the Reservoirs for the Croton Water. The whole space is about 2 ½ miles long, and one-half a mile broad.”3 While there was some debate about whether or not this limited acreage would be large enough to accommodate the great and growing city of New York, Olmsted firmly believed that if this park was well laid out, it would become “the favorite resort of all classes.”2 With Olmsted and Vaux’s Greensward Plan of 1858 (see fig. 1), Central Park could be properly constructed using both picturesque stylistic elements and a practical layout. Combining these two aspects was very important to Olmsted, who sought to create a unified work of art in which all parts were fluent and cooperative.4 The “Municipal Park Movement” was a late development in the United States, making the idea of a public park designed in a picturesque style an entirely new concept.5 There were no large, open areas of public relaxation in American cities, mostly because the idea that parks were meant for the upper class was still prevalent. The picturesque park was originally developed in England where it was used solely for hunting and recreational purposes of wealthy landowners. These private enclosures seemed to represent an unattainable world to the working class, who hardly had the time or the funds for such leisure. Through his design, Olmsted believed he could create a picturesque public park that could be understood and respected by the general American public, not just the upper class. Central Park was to be a democratic park in which the workingman would have as much of a right to admire and enjoy nature as the wealthy man. Healthful recreation would no longer to be limited to a single class; instead, it became a commodity for all to partake in. In this way, Olmsted radically transformed the idea of the formerly private picturesque park and its restricting social barriers. Central Park was to become “the first grand open space that had been intentionally set aside for the ordinary public in a prosperous and ambitious city.”6 Olmsted’s first mission, one that distinguished his design from all others, was the separation and elimination of any signs of the surrounding urban environment. The picturesque Central Park and the urban life of the city were to be separated from one another through a clever use of deceiving picturesque forms, a proper flow of traffic through the park, and the placement of architectural structures.

This separation was absolutely necessary in order to fully express the picturesque effect of the landscape.

Figure 2. “The Sunken Road.” Olmsted, Fredrick Law. Forty Years of Landscape Architecture: Central Park. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1973. 49.

Movement through the park was an essential factor for maintaining the scenic picturesque effect

SCHOLARSHIP 22 and also for providing the practical accessibility of particular attractions. Olmsted wanted visitors to be able to walk through the park’s winding paths, stumbling upon rock formations, vast meadows, and groupings of trees, all adding to the desired picturesque effect. Practically, there also had to be roads cutting through Central Park on which carriages and horses could travel. Thus, Olmsted constructed a “sub way” of four transverse roads that would remain separated and obscured from places of leisurely walking. These roads were literally carved out of the existing land, producing sunken streets about eight feet deep (see fig. 2). This created an unobstructed view of the land for the park visitor, who could look out at the beautiful picturesque landscape and not be distracted by a busy street. The carriage roads and the walking paths do intersect at certain points within the park, but Olmsted solved this problem with the use of bridges that would separate different roads from one another while creating an aesthetically pleasing walkway. Olmsted’s unified park experience depended on “the continuity of rural atmosphere”7 and not urban influence.

For Olmsted, Central Park was intended to represent a picturesque narrative in which “path was plot.”8 Therefore, Olmsted also constructed areas in which all classes could co-mingle and enjoy the flow of charming scenery. One such area was the Mall, a long, tree-lined walkway that served “the scenic function of a ‘hall Branching off of the Mall are various pathways that lead to scenic “rooms” that a visitor could transition to in kinematic succession. This variation of sequence was a key feature in the English picturesque style and it seems Olmsted has replicated it perfectly (see fig. 3). Though it was architectural in nature, the Mall was essentially another feature that enhanced the spectacle of strolling crowds admiring the picturesque surrounding. When considering the function of such features as the Mall, it is clear that the visitor’s movement through Central Park meant to echo that of the winding, picturesque paths. By continuing on their meandering walk through the Mall, a visitor finds the Bethesda Terrace. Nicknamed the “finest view in the park,”10 the Bethesda Terrace is the climax of the park’s pastoral retreat.

The Terrace is meant to be seen as a middle ground between the wilderness of the park and urban

Figure 3. “View of the Mall.” Conron, John. American Picturesque. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000. 277.

civilization (see fig. 4). Architectural features such as the Mall and the Terrace, while still remarkably beautiful, were always seen as subordinate to the predominant rural character created by the picturesque style.

After successfully separating the pastoral from the urban, Olmsted sought to enhance the already present landscape features of the park to give a heightened sense of picturesque beauty. In order

23 ACROPOLIS to create the “unified work of landscape art”11 he envisioned, Olmsted needed to recreate the harmonious composition of natural forms found in English picturesque parks. By explicitly refusing a geometric park layout, Olmsted opened a gateway of scenic creativity.12 Olmsted wanted Central Park to be a moving experience or as he called it “passages of scenery”. So he included open landscapes, various masses of plant life, romantic winding paths, large bodies of water, and picturesque bridges and follies; all of which were meant to evoke a feeling of spontaneFigure 4. “The Bethesda Terrace.” Conron, John. American Picturesque. Univer- ous movement. sity Park, Within the picturesque tradition, the goal Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000. 287. was to create as natural a scene as possible without giving away the ‘secret’ that the scene was actually meticulously designed. In Olmsted’s picturesque Central Park, there is no sign of falsity, only “the constant suggestion…of an unlimited range of rural conditions.”13 The open meadows provided visitors with a great expanse of lawn to relax, play games, have a picnic, or simply admire the beauty of nature. The endless possibilities of tranquility and relaxation are reflected and encouraged by the seemingly endless pastoral landscape. Small groups of trees placed throughout the vast meadows expand the visual illusion of distance. The placement of certain trees and bushes was also used to create “a visual sequence that would lead the eye from a darkened foreground to an undefined distant view.”14 While progressing along winding pathways, a visitor could stumble upon a folly, or a small building constructed in exotic or ancient styles that evoke feelings of architectural fantasy. The follies of Central Park seem to arise out of the surrounding landscape, immediately demanding the visitor’s attention. One example of a popular folly is the Belvedere Castle, which recalls the fortresses of medieval Europe (see fig. 5). While obviously standing out from the natural surroundings, these follies don’t interrupt the flow of movement; rather they enhance it by creating one culminating point of interest after another. The folly, the open meadow, the clusters of plants, and the winding path were all key features of English picturesque parks that Olmsted utilized to their fullest potential. This artistically designed layout would provide “a refreshing antidote to the city’s competitive pressures and dreary buildings.”15

Through Olmsted’s park design, it is clear how Central Park’s spatial layout significantly contributed to particular visual effects.16 But Olmsted was also very concerned with the psychological response of the park’s visitors. With the use of the picturesque, Olmsted sought to promote landscapes that would provoke human excitement and curiosity. The randomly scattered follies and winding paths of the park were certain to create these feelings for the visitor. Olmsted also wanted to produce a positive influence over visitors’ behavior, which he believed was becoming corrupted due to the worsening conditions in New York. In Olmsted’s hopeful view, Central Park was to become “a kind of open-air university”17 which would instill the values of a healthy life. By absorbing the picturesque scenes of beauty and breathing the fresh air of the park, visitors could acquire habits of living healthily and happily in their daily lives. This is where the separation of the park environment and the surrounding urban environment plays another key role. While citizens of the city enjoyed their stay at the park, taking pleasure in the refreshing landscape, they could momentarily forget about the worries and the stresses of living in an overcrowded city. Central Park was a picturesque paradise located in the middle of bustling, growing New York, providing a much needed mental escape for its visitors.

SCHOLARSHIP 24 Through his design of Central Park, Frederick Law Olmsted successfully combined the picturesque values of “complexity, variety, and contrast”18 within an urban setting. Olmsted broke the barriers of social class and separated urban life from the pastoral park environment, while carrying out his goal to create a picturesque park that could be appreciated by the general public. The project of constructing Central Park presented Olmsted with many challenges that could have faltered his plans. But Olmsted kept true to his belief in that if designed properly, Central Park could become an American picturesque masterpiece that would rival the beautifully landscaped parks of England.

Ultimately, through his modern interpretation of the picturesque, Olmsted was able to synthesize a picturesque aesthetic in response to the ever-increasing demand for public recreation in a natural environment for all citizens. The result of Olmsted’s creative journey and insightful efforts was the creation of the largest natural space within New York City—Central Park.

ENDNOTES 1. Frederick Law Olmsted, Forty Years of Landscape Architecture: Central Park (Massachusetts, MIT Press, 1973), 22.

2. Olmsted, 25.

3. Olmsted, 41.

4. Olmsted, 45.

5. Olmsted, 14.

6. Sara Cedar Miller, Central Park: An American Masterpiece (New York, H.N. Abrams Publishers, 2003), 7.

7. Olmsted, 48.

8. John Conron, American Picturesque (Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000), 282.

9. Conron, 278.

10. Conron, 284.

11. Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar, The Park and The People: A History of Central Park (New York, Cornell University Press, 1992), 131.

12. John Macarthur, The Picturesque: Architecture, Disgust, and Other Irregularities (New York, Routledge, 2007), 3.

13. Olmsted, 46.

14. Olmsted, 130.

15. Olmsted, 131.

16. Rosenzweig and Blackmar, 130.

17. Conron, 281.

18. Conron, 273.

its American Interpretation: Olmsted’s Central Park.” (1996). http://www.brynmawr.edu/cities/courses/96255/pap1/nwpap1.html. stable/40101764.

Miller, Sara Cedar. Central Park: An American Masterpiece. New York: H.N. Abrams Publishers, 2003.

Olmsted, Fredrick Law. Forty Years of Landscape Architecture: Central Park. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1973.

Rosenzweig, Roy and Elizabeth Blackmar.

The Park and the People: A History of Central Park. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1992.

Figure 7. “The Belvedere Castle.” Miller, Sara Cedar. Central Park: An American Masterpiece. New York: H.N. Abrams Publishers, 2003. 163.

Rybczynski, Witold. “Olmsted’s Triumph.”

Humanities International Complete. Volume 34, Issue 4 (2003). http://www.ebscohost. com/public/humanitiesinternational-complete.

Walker, Noah. “The English Picturesque and its American Interpretation: Olmsted’s Central Park.” (1996). http://www.brynMacarthur, John. The Picturesque: Architec- mawr.edu/cities/courses/96255/pap1/nwpap1.html. stable/40101764. ture, Disgust, and Other Irregularities.

Miller, Sara Cedar. Central Park: An AmeriLondon; New York: Routledge, 2007. can Masterpiece. New York: H.N. Abrams Publishers, 2003.

Mattocks, R.H. “Central Park, New York Review.” The Town Planning Review, Vol. 13, No. 3 (1929): 192-198. http://www.jstor.org/ Olmsted, Fredrick Law. Forty Years of Landscape Architecture: Central Park. Camstable/40101764.

Miller, Sara Cedar. Central Park: An Ameri- bridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1973.

BIBLIOGRAPHY can Masterpiece. New York: H.N. Abrams Rosenzweig, Roy and Elizabeth Blackmar.

Publishers, 2003.

Beveridge, Charles E. “Olmsted: His Essential The Park and the People: A History of Theory.” Olmsted.org. http://www.olmsted.org/the-olmsted-legacy/ Olmsted, Fredrick Law. Forty Years of Land- Central Park. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1992. scape Architecture: Central Park. Camolmsted-theory-and-designbridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1973. principles/olmsted-his-essential-theory (acRybczynski, Witold. “Olmsted’s Triumph.” cessed Humanities International Complete. Volume Rosenzweig, Roy and Elizabeth Blackmar.

September 20, 2012) 34, Issue 4 (2003). http://www.ebscohost.

The Park and the People: A History of com/public/humanitiesConron, John. American Picturesque. University Central Park. Ithaca, New York: Cornell international-complete.

University Press, 1992.

Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000.

Walker, Noah. “The English Picturesque and Rybczynski, Witold. “Olmsted’s Triumph.”

Kirkwood, Scott. “The Lay of the Land.” NPCA. Humanities International Complete. Volume its American Interpretation: Olmsted’s Central Park.” (1996). http://www.bryn34, Issue 4 (2003). http://www.ebscohost. org. mawr.edu/cities/courses/96com/public/humanitieshttp://www.npca.org/news/magazine/all255/pap1/nwpap1.html. international-complete. issues/2011/fall/the-lay-of-theland.html (accessed September 20, 2012).

Walker, Noah. “The English Picturesque and

XO by Katie Wood

At A Cross by Joel Carela

27 ACROPOLIS Flag Imagery, Symbolism and Visual Representations Throughout the Civil War Emmie Murphy To understand the significance of the American and Confederate flags today, we must appreciate the history of these emblems and the legacy the banners stand for. Specifically, this paper will examine the extent to which the Civil War constructed our current view of the American and Confederate flags and the ways in which visual culture of the era perpetuated the spirit surrounding each flag. Flags are often treated as living, breathing beings and presented as sacred objects. They symbolize power, society, and heroic quests, but what creates these associations?

In exploring the Civil War and its visual culture, we come to understand the evolution of each emblem and its place in modern culture. A consecrated representation of our nation, the American flag emerged from the Civil War as a revered Stars and Bars (Fig. 1) embodiment of American values and a symbol of the sacrifices made by our countrymen. This sentiment became engrained throughout history, building and strengthening to become the symbol we recognize today, “a declaration of the United States of America’s independence, and the struggles Americans went through to achieve this independence. ” The Confederation was less successful in constructing a sacred emblem of its territory, producing instead a marred and conflicted fallen image, much like the state itself. As a result, the Confederate flags were manipulated throughout history, exploited by certain groups and thereby assigned different meanings and negative connotations. The Union succeeded in instilling the public’s spirit in one symbol, a spirit that has lasted throughout history in the fabric of the United States flag, while the Confederacy brought about, instead, an image with no concrete sentiment, one that was thereby fit to change and transform as society and culture inscribed it with meaning.

Across the globe, flags are revered as sacred banners and images that represent a variety of meanings related to the territory to which they correspond. In the US these banners are seen as more than pieces of cloth, becoming instead a carnal manifestation of the nation. This idea is even asserted in United States law where, according to 36 United States Code 176j, “the flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing. ” Flags are powerful not only for what they symbolize, but also for the emotions they evoke in a population. Sentiments associated with the flag are often so strong, they elicit self-sacrifice, sometimes ending in death. The flag’s sacredness is also denoted through the rituals that govern its use and the specific care it demands. As an emblem with living characteristics, to desecrate the flag in any way is to “do injury as if to the person or the entire nation .” How did the American flag come to hold this power and in what ways was the Civil War an important factor in the creation of its modern identity?

First and foremost, we must trace the beginnings of our flag and surrounding history that certifies its modern identity. Despite the story of Betsy Ross that is often recounted during elementary school days, historians have revealed that there is no certainty surrounding the origin of the Stars and Stripes design . What is recorded, however, is the approval of the design in June of 1777 by a subcommittee of the Continental Congress . The flag’s presence throughout the early nineteenth century was minimal, however, and it was not until the Civil War that “the flag could truly become a symbol of popular identity and enter, so to speak, into people’s homes

SCHOLARSHIP 28 as a familiar presence – as a revered piece of fabric, as the main character of pious patriotic narratives. ” It was during and due to the Civil War that the flag found its central place in American society.

In the immediate aftermath of the South’s secession in the spring of 1861, a mass patriotic movement swept the Northern states and the flag came to symbolize the Union’s cause and acted, therefore, as an emblem of the entire nation. This was denoted by Lincoln’s refusal to remove any of the 34 stars from the Stars and Stripes, ignoring the breakaway of the Confederacy . Many scholars cite the Civil War as the defining event that marked the flag as a representative of American nationalism and a symbol worth dying for. From the moment that “Americans began killing Americans on American soil, Americans from every strata of society in the North for the first time embraced the flag as a symbol of American patriotism .” In fact, throughout the conflict, the American government awarded the capture of any confederate flag with a medal of honor and over one-half of the awarded medals during this period were in recognition of flag capture . In this idea we see the formation of the flag as a body and the physical allegory of the nation.

After secession, the Confederacy attempted to invoke a symbol that would carry the powerful connotations of the stars and stripes. Through this effort rose the stars and bars (Fig. 1), a banner born from the original American flag, but consisting instead of three stripes and 7 stars, denoting the three original southern colonies and seven states of the confederacy. The Southern states drew from American patriotic tradition in their invention of rituals, literature and anthems promoting the sacredness of the new flag. The implementation of the stars and bars illustrates the confederacy’s attempt to “combine tradition and a radical break from earlier loyalties .” As a community, the South looked for ways to embrace its new identity while also recognizing its former place within the United States.

As the war dragged on, the Confederacy looked for a way to further divide itself from the Union and fully embrace succession.

The adoption of the St. Andrew’s cross (Fig. 2) as an element of the new national flag in 1863 demonstrates the movement away from an association with American heritage . As historian John Coski asserted, “if the Stars and Bars was useful for ‘the transition state from attempted to confirmed independence,’ the St. Andrew’s cross symbolized the Confederacy’s putative ‘confirmed independence .’”

St. Andrew’s Cross (Fig. 2)

The cross, originally the battle flag of the Confederacy, stood as a manifestation of the military’s spirit throughout the war, one emblematic of Confederate morale. As we explore the history of the flags of the confederacy, it is only natural to question the effectiveness of these banners during the war effort. Was the confederacy successful in imbuing these symbols with the same sentiments attached to the Stars and Stripes? How does the visual culture of the period reveal this?

In the North, many images were being circulated to assert not only the victory of the Union, but also the divine support of their cause. One painting that perfectly encapsulates this idea is Frederic Edwin Church’s Our Banner in the Sky (Fig. 3), a patriotic and artistic response to the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in April of 1861. The aftermath of Fort Sumter further ignited ‘flag fury’ when Major Anderson took the flag from the battle scene back to the North. The banner soon became the focal point of many political rallies, one of which was held at Union Square in New York City before 100,000 people – still marked as the largest public assembly in the history of the United States . Church created a tattered American flag, reminiscent of the Fort Sumter relic, from nature’s basic elements. Through the manipulation of landscape, he posits the banner in the heavens and thereby asserts the divine guidance and support of the Union. The glimmer of twilight on clouds outlines the

29 ACROPOLIS stripes and an opening in the sky suggests a blue element dotted with stars. Church even includes the eagle soaring atop the image. This work was effective not only in timing, as it corresponded to the Union’s heightened patriotism, but also in the continuation of landscape painting traditions and the use of nature to communicate a deeper meaning. Church used concepts familiar to the public of the Civil War era to expound his message: the Union had God and Nature championing its victory. The flag may be torn, but it is vibrant and enduring, signaling the strength of the North. This image was immensely popular upon its creation and was transformed into an affordable print in June of 1861 that was displayed across many Northern households, furthering the allegorical message of the flag .

Our Banner in the Sky, (Fig 3)

In 1864, Church painted another flag piece that promoted his Union loyalties. Our Flag (Fig. 4) suggests a metaphorical depiction of America during the Civil War. Church was an artist who expressed his responses to the political climate of the day and “his pictures show that he was as much involved with the preservation of the Union as he was with its expansion .” In Our Flag, the stars and stripes holds strong, fluttering above the smoke of battle and emerging as a blatant and unmistakable symbol of Union triumph. Once again, Church utilizes the tradition of landscape painting, ascribed as “the emotional barometer for the nation, ” to insist and encourage northern victory.

Not only were northern artists using paintings to promote the Union cause, but they were also using their artistic expressions to desecrate the symbols of the Confederacy, a concept readily apparent in William Bauly’s companion pieces Our Heaven Born Banner (Fig. 5) and The Fate of the Rebel Flag (Fig. 6). The works resemble one another in scale, coloring and militaristic theme, alongside their blatant promotion of the union. Painted in response to Church’s Our Banner in the Sky, the images expound even more obviously upon the notion of divine validation. The title itself, heaven born, states directly that the Union is ordained by God and therefore undefeatable. The image depicts a lone soldier watching dawn break into a glowing American flag. His bayonet forms the staff of the flag, denoting the physical continuance of America through the military. The painting was also accompanied by eight lines of verse: “When Freedom from her mountain height Our Flag, (Fig. 4) / Unfurled her standard to the air, / She tore the azure robe of night / And set the stars of glory there. / She mingled with its gorgeous dyes / The milky baldrick of the skies, / And striped its pure celestial white / With streakings of the morning light .” The text combines nature in its imagery, but also a strong sense of divination “set the stars of glory there…and striped its pure celestial white” - as if the Union victory was preordained and infallible, set in nature by God. The companion piece, Fate of the Rebel Flag also portrays divine intervention. The dramatic scene shows a confederate ship plummeting into the waters as a raging fire swallows its remains. The fire and sky combine to form the Stars and Bars banner of the Confederacy. The floating scraps in the foreground suggest a similar fate of other Con-

Our Heaven Born Banner, (Fig. 5)

SCHOLARSHIP 30 federate vessels. Most notable, however, is the strike of lightning in the upper left corner that alludes to the hand of God as active in the Confederacy’s destruction. Both these images were copyrighted in New York and, like Church’s work, cheaply distributed to the public. This practice not only advocated for the Union’s cause, but also further consecrated the American flag as a holy and sacred image of the nation, one worthy and demanding of sacrifice.

The Confederacy was significantly less successful in the creation of flag imagery as well as the distribution of art. This was due to a variety of causes ranging from the lack of resources and artistic talent, to their inability to form a single image comparable to that of the Stars and Stripes in power and sentiment. As we can see through the history of the Confederate flags, it was not until late in the war that the battle flag was associated with a sacred cause and even so, “The Stars and Bars still appeared in civilian life and over garrisons, forts, and army headquarters while soldiers fought primarily behind whichever standard their commanding officer had decided they should carry into battle .” This disunity of image deluded the strength of flag power throughout the Southern states.

The Fate of the Rebel Flag (Fig. 6)

One of the few paintings that rivals the allegorical nature and assertion of divine intervention explored in previous images is the work of Conrad Wise Chapman. Chapman was an Americanborn artist from Washington, DC, although he spent a significant amount of his life in Italy studying art. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, Chapman moved back to the United States to enlist in the confederate forces. While in Charleston, Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard charged Chapman with the task of recording his surroundings. The results are the following images, sketched on sight but not finished until his return to Italy in 1864 . The Flag of Sumter (Fig. 7) depicts a confederate soldier surveying the line of defense outside the Charleston harbor.

The image captures the pride of the confederacy related to Sumter, a sight that The Flag of Sumter (Fig. 7) became a symbol of southern resistance. While the fort is in ruins, the tattered confederate flag remains flying and dominates the composition, denoting unfailing Confederate spirit. What is most notable, however, is the flag that he depicts. He paints not the Stars and Bars or St. Andrews Cross, but the “Stainless Banner,” the second confederate flag inaugurated as the official emblem of the state in May of 1863 .

The flag consists of a white field with the St. Andrews Cross emblazoned in the top-left corner.

The history of the “Stainless Banner” is one that exemplifies the inability of the Confederacy to invoke the power of an image and, most specifically, a flag into the cultural conversation. If “commitment to the flag is culturally determined, ” the Southern states needed to create a heritage surrounding the flag, a mentality that the flag is worthy of sacred consideration. To do this, an emblem must be sanctified by sacrifice, positioned as the embodiment of the nation as a whole, and instigated by media and visuals as a propagandist means. The first non-fulfillment of the Confederacy was the lack of consistency in relation to national emblems. The original “Stars and Bars” was replaced in 1863 by the “Stainless Banner,” only to be changed yet again in March of 1865 . Furthermore, a separate flag was used on the battlefield and, often times, states carried their own flags into combat. If the official flag of the confederacy is not that which soldiers die protecting, is it worthy of the worship garnered by the American flag?

The lack of image circulation was also a southern issue throughout the Civil War, meaning the constant changes in signage did not always reach the general public, let alone the soldiers. Not only was the Confederacy “iconographically deprived ,” but those infantry regiments and states removed from the central hub of governmental power were often fighting or flying a flag different than what the government had issued as regulation. Those,

31 ACROPOLIS “more remote from the government in distance and attention, had greater diversity in the styles and patterns of battle flags. Uniformity of flags among Western troops was never truly achieved. ” If flags are meant as uniform symbols of a nation or a cause, multiple flags weakens and destroys the sentiments associated with and the power garnered by the ensign. Conrad Wise Chapman’s choice to portray the “Stainless Banner” shows the division between the public and the government. By the time Chapman had finished the painting in 1864, the official Confederate flag had already been changed. The Flag at Fort Sumter was therefore incapable of perpetuating the banner as an unfailing symbol of confederate courage, as it was no longer the official symbol, let alone one instilled with divine connotations.

The second similar image, Bombardment of Fort Moultrie (Fig. 8), illustrates a scene from November of 1863 with the “Stainless Banner” flying above the fort. Despite the dramatic image and accompanying title, the bombardment was in fact a minor event in the war’s history when the Union ship, Lehigh, became stuck on the sandbar outside the Charleston harbor and was towed away by Union soldiers. The crux of the image Bombardment of Fort Moultrie (Fig. 8) is undoubtedly the flag flying resolutely as a symbol of protection, but also of Southern strength and dominance. We notice yet again, however, a distinct difference in Union and Confederate images, not only in the disconnect between official symbolization, but also in the failure of the Confederacy to posit their emblems as icons.

While these images strive to promote Confederate cause, they were ineffective for a variety of reasons. Firstly, they were never distributed to the public or even shown publicly until after the South’s surrender. They remained in the possession of Chapman’s family until sold to a wealthy Richmond resident in 1898 . Furthermore, they do not carry the same strength of sentiment evoked in the Northern artists’ renditions. This comparison seems to support the failure of the Confederacy to create an image that could compete with the Stars and Stripes in its “power and identification .” The images fail to elevate the flag to a heavenly status and, furthermore, depict an ominous approach of federal forces, an insignificant incident within the history of the War, and an outdated motif of the ‘Confederate nation’.

We can still see this failure of effective symbolization in contemporary culture. While the American flag emerged from the Civil War as “the abstraction of the Union cause…transfigured into a physical thing: strips of cloth that millions of people would fight for, and many thousands die for ,” instead of merely a militaristic device, the Confederate flags became known in a diverse number of ways. This strong attitude attached to the Stars and Stripes is one that has lasted throughout history, changing slightly to fit the political and societal climate of the time, but always carrying a sacred significance. To desecrate the American flag is not only an act of violence, but also an insult to soldiers, past and present. While this idea had slight significance in 1861, it was “the Civil War itself (that) would solidify the links between bloodshed, the flag, and the national community .” It was through the Civil War that the flag emerged as a living, breathing entity.

The Confederate flags, on the other hand, have become a topic of debate and intense disagreement lasting even today. In many cases, people are unaware of the official Confederate emblems, the battle flag often being confused as the Confederate flag. It is also the battle flag that has been a point of contention throughout history, often in relation to racist conflicts. The confederacy was unable to assign a concrete or sacred meaning to any of its emblems, and so the battle flag has evolved to represent diverse and often negative ideas.

While a portion of the population argues for the flag as a perpetuation of southern identity and a means of

SCHOLARSHIP 32 memorialization for confederate soldiers, use of the flag by the KKK, various white supremacist groups, and its role during the Civil Rights movement has marked the banner as a discriminatory icon. Because of “the observation that ‘you cannot separate slavery from the flag, bottom line ,” the view of the banner as a divisive measure is heightened and, despite its historical significance, will forever be a propaganda mechanism for racism. Its association with slavery and its subsequent use by racist groups shows the changing nature of the emblem over time in relation to historical events. What might once have been thought of as a symbol of a set of ideals is now solely considered as a racial insinuation. While the confederate battle flag may have always perpetrated a supremacist conviction, it was contemporary cultural events that inscribed it with a single, negative meaning, eventually leading to its forceful removal from the South Carolina State Capitol building in 2002. The forceful challenge of its public display “deeply excited white and black South Carolinians at the end of the twentieth century (as a) celebration of the successful civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960 s,” demonstrating the effects of past incidents on the visual reading of a poorly-established historical emblem. The flag memorialized negative meanings and lost others in its emergence and use throughout American history, demonstrating the difficulty of confederate commemoration. Had the south affected a sacred identity in its flag, would the same argument have come into force today?

These images help us to understand the evolution of the symbols of both sides and the place they hold in the culture of modern times. The American flag is still considered as an entity worthy of death and sacrifice, while the confederate flags have evolved to evoke a variety of meanings and, in many cases, carry negative connotations. As the visual culture of the day reveals, the Union firmly established a divine emblem that was carried throughout history. The confederacy’s lack of a singular and visual perpetuation of an emblem failed to excite the public and endow them with a physical concept of their new nation. Because the visual culture of each era has a significant impact and is also impacted by latter-day beliefs, it is presumable that the role of artists in this era created and sustained ideas surrounding the war. Through the readings of visuals, we come to understand the power of symbols, their associations and the importance of their success in a juncture of disorder. Had the confederacy succeeded in instilling a flag of consecrated implication, would confederate spirit have prevailed over the union?

In what way would the flag have changed the outcome of the war, if at all? Perhaps these questions will never be answered, but to ask them is to recognize the power of visual culture and symbolization and their impact on history.

BIBLIOGRAPHY “A Soldiers View of Civil War Charleston.”

The Gibbes Museum. Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc, 2011. Web. <http://www. tfaoi.com/aa/9aa/9aa552.htm>.

Bonner, Robert E. “Flag Culture and the Consolidation of Confederate Nationalism.”

The Journal of Southern History 68.2 (2002): 293-332. Print.

Brown, Thomas J., ed. Remixing the Civil War: Meditations on the Sesquicentennial.

Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011. Print.

Cannon, Jr, Devereaux D. The Flags of the Confederacy: An Illustrated History. Memphis, TN: St. Lukes Press and Broadfoot Publishing, 1988. Print.

Coski, John M. The Confederate Battle Flag.

Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2005. Print.

Fox, Andrew. “Our Banner in the Sky.” de young: Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco.

de young Museum, 12 Apr. 2011. Web. 2 May 2013. <http://deyoung.famsf.org/blog/ourbanner-sky>.

Goodheart, Adam. 1861: The Civil War Awakening. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. Print.

Guenter, Scot M. The American Flag, 1777-1924: Cultural Shifts from Creation to Codification. London And Toronto: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1956. Print.

Huntington, David C. The landscapes of Frederic Edwin Church : Vision of an American era. New York: G. Braziller, 1966. Print.

Leepson, Marc. Flag: An American Biography.

New York: Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin’s Press, 2005. Print.

Marmo, Jennifer. “The American flag and the body: How the flag and the body create an American meaning.” Kaleidoscope 9 (2010): 45-63. Print.

“Our Banner in the Sky.” The Civil War in Art.

The Terra Foundation, n.d. Web. <http://www. civilwarinart.org/items/show/28>.

“Our Heaven Born Banner.” Library of Congress. The Library of Congress, n.d.

Web. <http://www.loc.gov/pictures/ item/2004665372/>.

Shanafelt, Robert. “The Nature of Flag Power: How Flags Entail Dominance, Subordination, and Social Solidarity.” Politics and the Life Sciences 27.2 (2008): 13-27. Print.

Testi, Arnaldo. Capture the Flag: the Stars and Stripes in American History. New York: New York University Press, 2010. Print.

“War and Paint: Art of the Civil War.” Eye Level. Smithsonian American Art Museum, 15 Nov. 2012. Web. <http://eyelevel. si.edu/2012/11/war-and-paint-art-of-the-civilwar.html>.

33 ACROPOLIS Art History Major Requirements Studio Art Major Requirements Core Requirements

Core Requirements

ARTH 251: Survey of Art 1 ARTH 252: Survey of Art 2 ART 211: Two- Dimensional Foundations ART 212: Three- Dimensional Foundations

ART 211: Two – Dimensional Foundations ART 212: Three – Dimensional Foundations ART 460A: Senior Exhibition ART 460B: Senior Exhibition ARTH 251: Survey of Art I ARTH 252: Survey of Art II

A Three Credit Course in Each of the Following Five Fields: 1. Medieval 2.

Renaissance and Baroque 3. Modern 4. American 5.

Non Western or Cross Cultural ARTH 480: Methods of Art History 2 400-Level Art History Courses 1 Elective of any Level Art/Art History Course

Six Credits of upper-level Art History courses (3 credits need to satisfy the Major Writing and Computing Requirement) Minimum of 39 Credits in Art and Art History Maximum of 48 Credits in Art and Art History

Two-Dimensional Art Focus

(20 additional credits including)

Art History Minor Requirements ARTH 251: Survey of Art 1 ARTH 252: Survey of Art 2 Any 5 3-credit Art History courses at the 300 or 400 level

ART 309 - Life Drawing I ART 311 - Drawing ART 317 - Color Drawing: Theory and Practice ART 315 - Painting : Basic Pictorial Structure ART 316 - Painting: Basic Pictorial Expression

Three-Dimensional Art Focus

(20 additional credits including)

ART 319 - The Figure and the Body I ART 320 - The FIgure and the Body II 3 Additional Credits from the Following: ART 309 - Life Drawing I ART 310 - Life Drawing II ART 311 - Drawing

Untitled by Molly Martien

35 ACROPOLIS

Words from the Founder

Dear William & Mary—

I feel I hardly qualify as an alumna, as I’ve only been absent from William & Mary for five months. However, I was thrilled when I was asked to help Acropolis by writing this letter about my experiences at William & Mary and as an art historian. I hope to encourage underclassmen to consider the major, upperclassmen to continue with it, and everyone to engage a little more with one of the most fascinating fields out there.

I came into college thinking I would be an art and English double major. In fulfilling the requirements to be an art major, I enrolled in a few upper level art history courses. These classes weren’t about memorizing names and dates, but about the larger themes of the field and the motivations and cultural milieus of the artists. I was fascinated. It was this type of engagement with art, this looking, that revealed more to me about art and culture than any amount of sculpting ever would. I was ushered into this deeply fascinating field by several unbelievable professors at William & Mary, including Professors Melissa Kerin (now teaching at Washington and Lee), Charles Palermo, and Sibel Zandi-Sayek. The most rewarding and transformative undertaking of my college career was my honors thesis. Although it was a very stressful, frustrating, and, at times, emotionally draining experience, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. My enhanced writing skills, my increased understanding of the field, and my sense of achievement are factors that compel me to encourage every junior to consider taking on the challenge.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art and Art History and South Asian studies, I decided to pursue a Fulbright grant to India. The first three months of my grant period involve intensive Hindi language study, as I was also awarded a Critical Language Enhancement Award.

After this, I will continue my work on the artist Amrita Sher-Gil that I began in my thesis. Living in another country can be difficult, but I’m just so grateful that I’m able to continue my work, and build my language skills. After I return to the States, I will be pursuing doctor of philosophy degree in art history.

After that I hope to teach modern art history and to produce scholarship.

I came up with the concept for Acropolis magazine during the winter break of my junior year.

I was so pleased to see the magazine realized and I am proud to know it has been maintained after my departure. Though still in its early years, I believe Acropolis has the potential to become a staple publication of the university. I believe it is part of a greater movement of making art history more accessible, matching the community’s hunger for narratives offering explanations for visual culture.

Specific to the William & Mary campus, I think Acropolis also provides insight into Andrews Hall that non-majors might not have otherwise. It is my hope that Acropolis will encourage a more diverse community to benefit from such amazing professors, classes, and events as William & Mary has to offer. I’m so excited to see where the magazine goes under the supervision of editors Sophie Helm and Joél Elías Carela. I wish them the best of luck With Respect,

Michelle S. Repper

Previous Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Acropolis Magazine William & Mary, Class of 2013 Fulbright Scholar

Haleakala by Ashley Sweigart

37 ACROPOLIS

Senior Profile Kaitlin Noe

Senior English Major Art History Minor Studied Abroad Paris 2013 Marketing Intern at the Muscarelle Museum of Art

A What has been your favorite cultural or artistic experience here at William and Mary?

KN

By far working at the museum has been my most impactful experience, but also one of my most enjoyable. I’ve had a chance to not only be exposed to a great deal of amazing art, but to work with it and help create something out of it--whether it be an exhibition or an event. It’s also been a great opportunity to meet the artistic community on campus. I’ve learned so much from characters like Dr. Spike with his endless encyclopedic knowledge, Nick, a docent with boundless enthusiasm, or the many passionate students who work at the museum. Apart from the museum, I was a big fan of International Night at the Caf freshman year.

A How has your experience studying abroad in Paris influenced your creative perspective? Was there a particular moment in Paris that you felt that space influenced your creative thinking/artistic eye?

KN

Studying abroad has 100% changed my perspective on art, if only because it broadened my exposure. Paris has some incredible art and museums-one of my particular favorites is the room of Courbets at the Musée d’Orsay--but even when traveling to other cities I was able to learn a great deal more. For example, I had the chance to visit the Manet museum in Nice and the Picasso museum in Barcelona, after dragging my friends away from the beach. Living in Paris gave me a great appreciation for physical surroundings and the influence they can have on your appreciation for everything, though. I was lucky enough to spend my nights strolling across the Seine towards the Marais or down the Champs de Mars past the Eiffel Tower, and that kind of appreciation for having beautiful space around you- whether architecture, nature, or something else- is what I found to be one of the greatest parts of studying abroad.

A Have you had any other artistic experiences outside of the college, perhaps during the summer months? How did those opportunities open your eyes more to the fast growing contemporary art world?

SENIOR PROFILE 38 KN

After sophomore year, I spent the summer interning in the curatorial department at Philadelphia’s Institute for Contemporary Art and also in a print shop in Old Philly. Both were incredible experiences in different ways. The print shop was run by a sassy British man and a lot of hipster, tattoed artists (all amazing people), and the ICA largely by graduate students working in the area. It was a great exposure to the diversity of the art world, and also provided unique insight into what a profession within the art world is like. I loved both internships, and the “Happy Show” exhibition that was on at the ICA (which is known for its very progressive contemporary exhibitions) is to date one of my favorite exhibits I’ve seen. In tandem with working at the print shop, the summer really opened my eyes to the incredible range that exists in contemporary art. Some of it I loved, some of it I just could not get into, but what I think amazing about contemporary art is that it gives you more opportunity to decide for yourself who is talented and what is “good art”. Some of the other internships I’ve had- working for the Blue Man Group in New York or the Center for American Culture in Paris- have only confirmed my love of the people who work at creative institutions like these, and their passion for the work they are doing.

A What has your experience at the Muscarelle been like? Has there

been one moment or event that has made an impact on you during your internship career there?

KN

I don’t know if I could point to one specific moment above the rest- though getting to see my name on a Manet print’s info card in an exhibition and the fact that I could have met Glenn Close if I hadn’t been scheduled to work at my other job have both been pretty memorable, if for very different reasons. I was this close to getting to tell everyone I had cocktails with Close... The great thing about working at the museum, though, is how incredibly supportive they are of the students who work there, and how much opportunity they have given me to learn and develop experience. When I started, I was exploring curatorial work. Then, when I realized I really wanted to pursue marketing, I told Christina.

She responded by telling me we would be hosting a world-class Michelangelo exhibition soon, and that she wanted me to come up with the campus marketing plan. Those kind of opportunities just aren’t given to junior year college students at most institutions.

The final result was the first student opening ever held at the museum, which brought in more than twice as many students as had ever been to the museum (though sadly I was abroad for the event itself). Also, the cheese bars at the openings and the spring Wine & Run for the Roses have all been pretty life-changing.

A How do you hope to stay involved in the arts after completing your college career?

KN

Extensive museum tours. Gallery trips. Any and all events people will allow me to attend.

While I am still exploring exactly where I want to live or work after graduation, I hope to continue being involved in the arts and with artistic people as much as I can- they’re some of the best kinds of people. I am fascinated by how art interacts with history and with the cultures of the people who make it, so I look forward to digging even deeper into it! Just goes to show that it pays off to get off my couch and check out the opportunities around me- never know where inspiration will strike!

MOVEMENT

ACROPOLIS, Spring 2014