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E-book Early Civilization and the American Modern : Images of Middle Eastern origins in the United States, 1893–1939

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Penilaian

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In the 1890s, the eccentric American businessman Franklin Webster Smith proposed grand new ‘National Galleries of History and Art’ for Washington, DC. A rendering of his imagined project has the vertigo-inducing scale of the architectural proposal that was destined from its inception to remain unrealized (Figure 1.1). Imagine that you stand at the head of a vast avenue of orderly pavilions, each in a markedly different historical style, disappearing into the distance. Here you are at history’s beginning, flanked by two pavilions that evoke the great monuments of ancient Egypt and Assyria. Stroll along and you will ascend to history’s culmination: an ‘American Acropolis’, the centrepiece of which would be ‘an American Walhalla’, the Memorial Hall of Presidents, an exact replica of the Parthenon – but 50 per cent bigger than the ancient Greek original.1 This last touch can be taken as characteristic of a certain American relationship to the past: an urge to emulate and celebrate antiquity, to connect it to the American story, even while the forms of the past were found not quite adequate to the civilization being created in the modern United States of America.This grandiose reconstruction was mandated in part by what America lacked. ‘In oceanic separation from the remains of historic nationalities,’ Smith wrote, ‘the American people are deprived of the objective illustration available to European nations.’ Yet, he continued, ‘the wealth of the United States, greater than of any other nation, should create an institution, surpassing all others, for illustration of human progress and civilization’. The whole of it was to be cast in sand-concrete, a simple building process with good value for the dollar: ‘Roman columns, imperishable, are cast for $20.00 each, which in stone would have cost $300.00.’2 Modernity might take the shape of antiquity, but it offered superior technology for achieving the same results, at better prices.In retrospect, it is impossible not to see Smith’s plans through the lens of kitsch, a precursor to the postmodern playgrounds of Disneyland or the Las Vegas Strip. Yet Smith’s proposals were taken seriously by significant figures in architecture. He listed the eminent architects Paul J. Pelz (who would later design the 1897 Library of Congress) and Henry Ives Cobb as advisory architects. The plan’s greatest champion was the respected Gothic Revival architect James Renwick Jr., who had designed the Smithsonian Castle for Washington (1855) and St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City (opened 1879). The firm of Renwick, Aspinwall & Russell produced illustrations for Smith’s 1891 Design and Prospectus. Smith’s proposal also found supporters in the United States Senate. Republican Senator George Frisbie Hoar of Massachusetts submitted Smith’s petition for the creation of the galleries into the congressional record. The petition called for the National Galleries to ‘utilize the revelations of archaeology and transfer to the Western World, in simulation, all desirable relics of ancient art and all remains illustra-tive of ancient life that have filled the museums of Europe at great cost: these reproductions being in every way as valuable for education as originals, but at a very small fraction of their cost.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

724.5 MIL e

Penerbit

London : UCL Press., 2024

Deskripsi Fisik

354 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9781800087200

Klasifikasi

724.5

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

Period 1800 - 1899 Architecture

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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