Difference between revisions of "Nautical Figureheads"

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==Religious Figures==  
 
==Religious Figures==  
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The genre of human figurehead carving emerged at “the intersection of shipcarving with the fine arts of Western Europe that began during the Renaissance” (Sessions 15), and intensified when “Europe entered a period of maritime expansion fueled by the exploration and colonization of the New World” (16).
 +
 
 +
The figureheads of this era possessed a “basic narrative value”, when read the products and signifiers of imperialism, which Patrick B. Mullen asserts imbues them with religious meaning as folklore (413).  The doctrine expressed is “a value or norm of society” (413) which increasingly oriented itself around commerce rather than the church.
 +
 
 +
Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the most popular subjects in French and English sailing were mythological figures such as greco-roman deities, mythical animals, and portraits of contemporary subjects (Sessions 17-8)-- not Christian subjects, despite the prominence of Christianity in Western Europe.
 +
 
 +
In North America, however, “...shipcarvers produced a wide range of work, from figureheads, to shop signs to architectural and Church decorations” (Sessions 125).  Business provided by churches “remained a mainstay for carvers for years after orders for shipcarving fell off towards the end of the 19th century” (125).
 +
 
 +
By this time, the value of most carvings with religious subjects had come to be defined by the market and not by their value as cultic objects.  The religious value of a figurehead, when placed on a commercial or imperial ship, is at least as closely tied to the mythology of world trade and the expansion of empire as it is to its actual subject matter.
 +
 
 
==Political Figures==
 
==Political Figures==
 
sp
 
sp
 
==Caricature and Stereotypes==  
 
==Caricature and Stereotypes==  
jh
+
 
 +
The prevalence of racial stereotypes in nautical sculpture first emerged in the mid-18th century as “fairly straightforward references to foreign places or products” (Sessions 27), which originated “beyond the borders of Christendom” (29).  These depictions took the form of signs and statues advertising imported goods for port side businesses, often created by European artists who had never seen a person from Africa or the New World.
 +
 
 +
In the New World, where “over 75 percent of the total value of goods exported” (sessions 34) from some colonies was derived from tobacco, most sculptors carved both figureheads for ships as well as promotional statues and signs for tobacco stores.  These sculptors were usually “the only artisans in a particular locale who were capable of producing skilled ornamental work in wood” (37).
 +
 
 +
When the art of wooden shipbuilding and figurehead production fell out of favor around 1850, “shipcarvers continued to collectively exercise their talents and creativity … in a final burst of creativity seen particularly in shop and cigar-store indians” (Sessions 83).
 +
 
 +
For artists in the 17th and 18th century, “identifying contemporary types and applying stereotypical identities to them was considered an appropriate way to characterize and differentiate humanity” (Session 148).  As a result, a wide diversity of stereotypical sculpture appeared on ships, signs, and as statues wherever foreign goods were trafficked,  promoting otherness as a quality being shipped from overseas.
  
  
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=Derrivative Forms=
 
=Derrivative Forms=
 
==Decontextualization==
 
==Decontextualization==
jh + bb
+
 
 +
In the mid-19th century, both the role and subject matter of nautical figureheads were changed dramatically by the growth of the carving industry and decline of wooden shipbuilding.  By 1890, most sculptors relied heavily on show figures for their income, and show figures were no longer dominated by the racist images of Indians and Turks.  Instead, “an emphasis on change and variety began to replace the older concepts of familiarity and traditional association that had dominated earlier forms of marketing and advertising” (Session 141).  Common subjects included Baseball players, Firefighters and
 +
 
 +
The public imagination was no longer as fascinated with images of imperial trade's new subjects as it had been when global shipping expanded so dramatically in the centuries before.  New signifiers of  technological and imperial progress emerged in both shipbuilding and sculpture, replacing wooden figureheads as the cult objects of global empire.
 +
 
 +
The U.S. Navy commissioned their first figurehead-free fleet in 1825 (Pinckney 99), motivated by economic and performance factors.  A similar shift in priorities occurred in the shipping industry which the emergence of small and nimble “Packet” ships.  Pinckley writes: “each vessel tried to make better time than its competitor.  This eagerness for speed kept the packets continually under repair and often resulted in their loss” (118). 
 +
 
 +
During this era, many figureheads were removed from ships and displayed as sculpture in an artistic context.  In 1893, the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago played home to “several zinc show figures, including thee Indians, a Gambrinus, and a 'Moorish Girl,'”, which “were not shop signs, but rather were designed for use as decorative pieces in the interior of a fashionable urban store” (Sessions 187).  The decision to use zinc instead of wood is evidence of aspiration to sit among fine artists and not craftsmen like shipbuilders.
 +
 
 +
By 1915, wooden figureheads and shop sculptures alike had fallen almost completely out of use before being “'discovered' by modernist artists searching for forms of expression that they considered to be uniquely American” (Sessions 200).  Figureheads became valued as pieces of folk art, representing America's history.
 +
 
 
==Cigar Store Indians==
 
==Cigar Store Indians==
 
jh
 
jh

Revision as of 17:35, 16 October 2010


Introduction

History Pre-1600

bb + sp

Human Figureheads

Baroque Era

bb

Group Figureheads

bb

Female Figureheads

sp

Mermaids

sp

Neo-Classical

bb

Religious Figures

The genre of human figurehead carving emerged at “the intersection of shipcarving with the fine arts of Western Europe that began during the Renaissance” (Sessions 15), and intensified when “Europe entered a period of maritime expansion fueled by the exploration and colonization of the New World” (16).

The figureheads of this era possessed a “basic narrative value”, when read the products and signifiers of imperialism, which Patrick B. Mullen asserts imbues them with religious meaning as folklore (413). The doctrine expressed is “a value or norm of society” (413) which increasingly oriented itself around commerce rather than the church.

Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the most popular subjects in French and English sailing were mythological figures such as greco-roman deities, mythical animals, and portraits of contemporary subjects (Sessions 17-8)-- not Christian subjects, despite the prominence of Christianity in Western Europe.

In North America, however, “...shipcarvers produced a wide range of work, from figureheads, to shop signs to architectural and Church decorations” (Sessions 125). Business provided by churches “remained a mainstay for carvers for years after orders for shipcarving fell off towards the end of the 19th century” (125).

By this time, the value of most carvings with religious subjects had come to be defined by the market and not by their value as cultic objects. The religious value of a figurehead, when placed on a commercial or imperial ship, is at least as closely tied to the mythology of world trade and the expansion of empire as it is to its actual subject matter.

Political Figures

sp

Caricature and Stereotypes

The prevalence of racial stereotypes in nautical sculpture first emerged in the mid-18th century as “fairly straightforward references to foreign places or products” (Sessions 27), which originated “beyond the borders of Christendom” (29). These depictions took the form of signs and statues advertising imported goods for port side businesses, often created by European artists who had never seen a person from Africa or the New World.

In the New World, where “over 75 percent of the total value of goods exported” (sessions 34) from some colonies was derived from tobacco, most sculptors carved both figureheads for ships as well as promotional statues and signs for tobacco stores. These sculptors were usually “the only artisans in a particular locale who were capable of producing skilled ornamental work in wood” (37).

When the art of wooden shipbuilding and figurehead production fell out of favor around 1850, “shipcarvers continued to collectively exercise their talents and creativity … in a final burst of creativity seen particularly in shop and cigar-store indians” (Sessions 83).

For artists in the 17th and 18th century, “identifying contemporary types and applying stereotypical identities to them was considered an appropriate way to characterize and differentiate humanity” (Session 148). As a result, a wide diversity of stereotypical sculpture appeared on ships, signs, and as statues wherever foreign goods were trafficked, promoting otherness as a quality being shipped from overseas.


Derrivative Forms

Decontextualization

In the mid-19th century, both the role and subject matter of nautical figureheads were changed dramatically by the growth of the carving industry and decline of wooden shipbuilding. By 1890, most sculptors relied heavily on show figures for their income, and show figures were no longer dominated by the racist images of Indians and Turks. Instead, “an emphasis on change and variety began to replace the older concepts of familiarity and traditional association that had dominated earlier forms of marketing and advertising” (Session 141). Common subjects included Baseball players, Firefighters and

The public imagination was no longer as fascinated with images of imperial trade's new subjects as it had been when global shipping expanded so dramatically in the centuries before. New signifiers of technological and imperial progress emerged in both shipbuilding and sculpture, replacing wooden figureheads as the cult objects of global empire.

The U.S. Navy commissioned their first figurehead-free fleet in 1825 (Pinckney 99), motivated by economic and performance factors. A similar shift in priorities occurred in the shipping industry which the emergence of small and nimble “Packet” ships. Pinckley writes: “each vessel tried to make better time than its competitor. This eagerness for speed kept the packets continually under repair and often resulted in their loss” (118).

During this era, many figureheads were removed from ships and displayed as sculpture in an artistic context. In 1893, the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago played home to “several zinc show figures, including thee Indians, a Gambrinus, and a 'Moorish Girl,'”, which “were not shop signs, but rather were designed for use as decorative pieces in the interior of a fashionable urban store” (Sessions 187). The decision to use zinc instead of wood is evidence of aspiration to sit among fine artists and not craftsmen like shipbuilders.

By 1915, wooden figureheads and shop sculptures alike had fallen almost completely out of use before being “'discovered' by modernist artists searching for forms of expression that they considered to be uniquely American” (Sessions 200). Figureheads became valued as pieces of folk art, representing America's history.

Cigar Store Indians

jh

Hood Ornaments

jh

etc

Conclusion