Dead Media Contribution • s******j@**.com 25/05/1996 00:00:000 UTC What I did on my two-day summer vacation. The Dead Media project is this online effort to gather information about forms of information storage and / or playback that have disappeared. One of these is the panoramic painting, a commercial art form that used 360 degree paintings to depict a famous scene from history. Since Pittsburgh is not terribly far from one of the last two dozen or so remainng "cycloramas," I contributed to the project by visiting. Here is my report: Subj: Dead Media Eyewitness Report Date: 96-05-15 09:52:53 EDT From: b*****s@f*********e.com (Bruce Sterling) To: dead-m****a@f*********e.com Dead medium: The Gettysburg Cyclorama (((Dead Media Necronaut Stefan Jones, in a praiseworthy act of initiative, has investigated and described a panorama for us. This seems to me to be an entirely new category of dead media reportage, the "Dead Media Eyewitness Report." I'd be very interested in distributing similar essays in future == descriptions other existent panoramas, or eye-witness accounts of other media "living fossils." Bruce Sterling))) The Gettysburg Cyclorama ======================== From: ***@***.com (Stefan Jones) I paid a short visit to the Gettysburg Cyclorama (officially "The High Tide of the Confederacy," but also known as the "Boston Cyclorama" for reasons to be explained below) on May 8th. The painting is located in a specially constructed building on the grounds of the battlefield, now a national park. For those interested in visiting, the park is just south of the city of Gettysburg, about thirty minutes from the intersection of I-76 and I-81 in south central PA. The entrance to the park proper is well disguised within a strip of "Visitor Tour Centers," wax museums, and places like the spectacularly ill-named "Colonel Pickett's Buffet." Fortunately, the park itself is wonderfully free of commercial sleaze. It is well landscaped, well maintained, and conscientiously laid out. I had no trouble finding a spot in the rather small parking lot; most of the visitors seemed to be arriving by school bus or charter coach. The main visitors' center and the cyclorama building are adjacent to the parking lot. The former contains a gift shop (which sells mostly books, videos, and a tastefully restrained selection of souvenirs), displays of weapons, uniforms, and artifacts, and the "Electric Map," a piece of archaic multimedia which I will describe later. The cyclorama building, erected specially to display the painting, stands on the site of Ziegler's Grove, which overlooks the battlefield. The cyclorama is housed on the second floor of a concrete rotunda; the building also contains dioramas and displays of artifacts, probably to provide distraction to people waiting in line to see the main attraction. Shows run about every half hour; admission is $2.50. Kathy Beaty, the Park Service guide who ran the presentations (and who patiently answered my questions over the course of two showings) told me that the display had a capacity of 160 people, and that there were 16 showings a day in peak season. I arrived before the invasion of two youth groups and got in without delay. The Presentation ================= The display area is entered by a spiral ramp which winds around the core of the rotunda. This lets out onto a dimly lit platform in the middle of the second floor; a moat about thirty feet wide surrounds the platform. The painting, mounted on the wall about level with the viewers' eyes, is kept in darkness between presentations. No artifacts or props were used to trick the viewer into thinking he or she was "really there." The program begins with a short introduction by a live host, who briefly describes the history of the Gettysburg cycloramas -- there were four -- and lays the ground rules (no flash photography). The introduction is followed by a 11 minute canned presentation that uses the painting to describe the events of the last day of the battle; July 3rd, 1863. Primary narration is by Richard Dreyfus; an uncredited second actor reads passages from a general's diary. During the course of the presentation, the painting is illuminated in sections. This takes advantage of the fact that the cyclorama depicts not a snapshot of a single moment of time, but the events of a good part of the day. (It's possible that the painting was created with just this sort of presentation in mind; electric spot lights were certainly available in the 1880's.) Revealed, in order, are the smoke from Confederate artillery on the western horizon; Union cannon returning fire from a position to the north; ordered columns of southern troops advancing across the field; Union troops racing toward the viewer from the direction of the village; and finally the terrible struggle at the Angle and the copse of trees where the advance was stopped: the eponymous High Tide of the Confederacy. After the presentation, which eventually leaves the entire painting lit, the host uses a laser pointer to highlight the painting's various features and its peculiar history, and takes questions. The Painting ============ The panorama is displayed for a unfairly short amount of time during each presentation, but I saw enough to feel comfortable describing the work. (I'm supplementing my memory with a "strip map" of the painting that I bought at the gift shop; it's a terrible reproduction of the cyclorama but detailed enough for this purpose.) According to the literature, the Cyclorama is about 356 feet long and 26 feet high. The original dimensions were 400' x 50'; the splicing and restoration must have been competent because I found it difficult to tell where the gaps were. Judging from the way the tops of certain trees are lopped off, the top of the panorama suffered the worst. The Cyclorama depicts the view of the battlefield from Cemetary Ridge, where the Union army was camped on the morning of July 3rd. The surrounding landscape is shown in a fair amount of detail; the background alone would make the piece remarkable, but it is of course just the setting for the human drama. As mentioned above, the events of the day are compressed into this one scene. The artillery duel (pictured in the second and third panels of my postcard) took place in the late morning and the terrible slaughter at the end of Pickett's charge == shown in the third and fourth panels == in the afternoon. The aftermath of battle is represented by a scene at a field hospital; this scene-within-a-scene was added by artist Philippoteaux, and was probably modeled on a farm far behind the lines. There are many hundreds, and probably several thousand, distinct figures in the painting. None are apparently closer than a few dozen yards; most are in the "middle distance," close enough to be distinct individuals without showing much detail. To judge from pieces of another Gettysburg cyclorama on display in the lobby, the level of fine detail and craftsmanship are not spectacular, although this is not a great problem on a work meant to be viewed as a whole, from a distance. And given this, it is a feast for the eyes. There is plenty to see: thundering cannon, galloping horses, men locked in close combat, and comparatively sedate scenes of the wounded being tended. Abe Lincoln has a cameo as one of the casualties, being carried by two men toward a shack where two sawbones are performing an amputation. There are lots of bodies, both equine and human, and while there are plenty of dead men the former seem to predominate. There's not a drop of blood to be seen, even in the field hospital. Philippoteaux himself appears in the painting as a Union officer, posed with a sabre and confidentally overlooking the battle below. The presentations I stood through were also attended by two groups of elementary school kids. It was fun seeing them try to figure out what they were in for before the lights came up. They seemed quite pleased by the presentation and quite a few asked questions about the painting and its history. If you do see the Cyclorama, try to stay through several showings; the alloted time is just too short. The staff was quite accomodating once they learned that I was interested in the painting; you may have similar luck. History of the Gettysburg Cycloramas ==================================== The Gettysburg Cycloramas were painted by Paul Dominique Philippoteaux, a Frenchmen born in 1846. He painted many panoramas, following in the footsteps of his father Felix. (Aside: Cyclorama painting exhibition was a _business_; to this day the Philippoteaux family runs the concession that shows another family creation, "Jerusalem on the Day of Christ's Crucifixion," in St. Anne-de- Beaupre, Quebec.) Chicago businessman Charles Willoughby commissioned Philippoteaux to paint the first Gettysburg cyclorama in 1881. The artist visited the battlefield in 1882, and with the help of a local photographer and eyewitnesses to the battle made the sketches that would form the basis of the panorama. He returned to Paris and, with the help of five assistants, began work on the painting. It was completed in 1883, and displayed in Chicago. The "Chicago" version proved such a success that Willoughby financed three more Gettysburg Cycloramas, the "Boston," "Philadelphia," and "New York" versions. Incredibly, the 20,000 square foot paintings took less than a year each to complete. The painting gre progressively more refined,and Philippoteaux corrected errors in the later editions. For example, the first three versions showed Confederate General Armistead on a horse; the "New York" panorama depicted him on foot. The Boston panorama opened to the public on December 22, 1884. An illustration in the brochure shows a circular, vaguely medieval-looking building. Adult admission was 50 cents; children got in for a quarter. If I'm not mistaken, this was quite a sum for the time. For this they "read the historical program and listened to narrators, sometimes actual veterans of the battle, explain the scene." After a stint in Philadelphia in 1891, the painting was crated and stored in an empty lot behind the Tremont Street Cyclorama building, where it was exposed to the elements for 18 years. It was then purchased by Newark businessman Albert Hahne, who displayed pieces of the work in his department store, and later took the entire canvas on the road. The cyclorama was finally brought to Gettysburg in 1913, the 50th anniversary of the battle. It was housed in the same "temporary" building for forty seven years; the current enclosure was started in 1959, and major restoration work begun to get the painting in shape for the 100th anniversary of the battle. The history of the "Boston" Cyclorama is comparatively kind. The "Chicago" version still exists, stored in crates at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, but is in very poor condition. The fate of the "Philadelphia" version is unknown. The definitive "New York" cyclorama was chopped up, framed, and sold as seperate paintings; two of these are on display in the lobby at Gettysburg. The indifference shown to these remarkable works demonstrates that they were in fact _commercial_ art; when no venue was available they were rather callously discarded, much as early works of cinema were lost before people realized that they were Art with a capital A. The Electric Map ================ The Gettysburg visitors' center contains a piece of proto-multimedia of a sort seen in many museums; the "active" map. The Electric Map is a wood and plaster relief map of the battlefield, with a scale of about one foot to one mile. It is painted to show the woods and farmland that covered the region in 1863, and is studded with hundreds of small, colored lightbulbs that represented the position of the lines of battle, campfires, and points of interest. It is displayed in the middle of a square ampitheatre; admission is $2.50. Like the Cyclorama, the map is shown as part of a canned presentation. The narration, room lighting, and the lamps on the map are choreographed by some unknown mechanism to show the movement of Confederate and Union troops through all three days of battle. Although undeniably quaint == the rattle of relays could be heard as the bulbs flickered on and off == the presentation was quite effective. It held the attention of the fifty-odd school kids who saw the show with me. Unlike the Cyclorama, there was no host present to answer questions afterwards, this task being left to teachers and guides. There's no doubt that the Electric Map could be jazzed up with a little high tech == using lasers to "paint" the positions of the various units comes to mind == but it does the job quite well as is. Well worth seeing if you ever visit the battlefield. The Dead Media Angle ==================== I'm glad that the Boston Cyclorama survived the perils following its heyday, and it is altogether fitting and proper that it found a home on the battlefield that it depicts. It's nice to know that after a hundred and twelve years, the panorama is still doing its job and drawing a good crowd. But I got an insight, that day, as to why cycloramas couldn't compete with later innovations. After taking in the Cyclorama and Electric Map and the displays of cannons and such, I decided to cross the street and actually tour the battlefield, starting with the cemetary. I did not get far. My eyes were misting up before I finished looking at the map inside the entrance, and there's enough macho male in me not to want to be seen crying in public. What brought on this mood wasn't thoughts of what I'd seen that day. It was memories of a television show, Ken Burn's _The Civil War_ that I watched over four years ago. The Electric Map showed the casualties suffered on July 3rd, 1863 as the winking off of little lights. The Cyclorama showed casualties as bloodless ciphers, sprawled on the ground or sagging in the arms of their fellows. Ken Burn's documentary showed the genuine article; photographs of real dead Union and Confederate soldiers, lying on the actual battlefield, spotted with mud and looking heroic as roadkill. To rub it in he showed us Before pictures, of men posed in their new uniforms, and had actors read from their letters and diaries. Watching it made me feel like I'd been punched in the stomach. Just thinking about those remarkable programs, after all these years, brings back that feeling. I can't look at Mathew Brady's work without a chill. Television and movies, in the right hands, can tell a story with far more power than mere canvas, and even crappy TV and movies can be compelling. Given this, I am not surprised at the death of Cycloramas as a medium of mass entertainment. It's a damn shame that so many of them were trashed as a result, but such is the way of the world. Stefan Jones (***@***.com) -- +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+ ***@***.com ~ s*****s@a*****.***u.edu ~ s******j@**.com http://www.ini.cmu.edu/~sjones/ • y******d@p******y.com 27/05/1996 00:00:000 UTC Stephan, Living in Maryland, and having a Civil WAr nut for a father, I've seen the display/battlefield at Gettysburg several times. I just wanted to make a note. Visit several times. It's the only way to fully understand the landscape. Also, the National Park Serivce is fighting preservationists. The NPS wants to build a new, modern visitors center copmlete with IMAX theatre. I say fine...but only if they remain in the footprint of the original structure and do not further disturb the archaeological context. After all, isn't that why it was made a National Historic Landmark in the first place? =) Jill The rabid preservationist. -Archaeology: More than just a hole in the ground. J********o@p******y.com J*******O@i*.******b.edu Jill Rappaport • s******j@**.com 27/05/1996 00:00:000 UTC In article <4ocquj$***@u*******.****.*******y.com>, Jill Rappaport wrote: >Visit several times. It's the only way to fully understand the >landscape. I plan on it, but not right away. >Also, the National Park Serivce is fighting preservationists. The NPS >wants to build a new, modern visitors center copmlete with IMAX theatre. >I say fine...but only if they remain in the footprint of the original >structure and do not further disturb the archaeological context. The park is fine now; well-kept, simple, and dignified. I don't see a need to change it. -- +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+ ***@***.com ~ s*****s@a*****.***u.edu ~ s******j@**.com http://www.ini.cmu.edu/~sjones/ • s******j@**.com 27/05/1996 00:00:000 UTC In article <9605272143591.The_Win-D.*******d@d*****i.com>, Kevin Conod wrote: >PS Does Sterling have Camera Obscuras in his list of Dead Media? Yup, along with other odd old photographic stuff. Weird old tech: The french had perfected microphotography in the French and Prussian (~1850s?) war, and used it to pack dozens of letters into a "microdot" that was strapped to the leg of a carrier pigeon! The technique was used to smuggle messages into and out of beseiged cities. In our Civil War, some Confederate spies caught in Canada were found to have communiques hidden in microdots. Some dead media is really strange, like a 1900-era music synthesizer that was designed to play directly into the phone system. The "Teleharmonium" was composed of over two hundred tons of steam-driven electrical equipment, including dynamos that created direct current of a frequency equal to the desired notes. It is reported that the machine regularly burned out telephone switches. So, don't complain about hold music! -- +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+ ***@***.com ~ s*****s@a*****.***u.edu ~ s******j@**.com http://www.ini.cmu.edu/~sjones/ • k******d@d*****i.com 28/05/1996 00:00:000 UTC > The Electric Map showed the casualties suffered on > July 3rd, 1863 as the winking off of little lights. The > Cyclorama showed casualties as bloodless ciphers, sprawled > on the ground or sagging in the arms of their fellows. > Ken Burn's documentary showed the genuine article; > photographs of real dead Union and Confederate soldiers, > lying on the actual battlefield, spotted with mud and > looking heroic as roadkill. To rub it in he showed us > Before pictures, of men posed in their new uniforms, and > had actors read from their letters and diaries. Watching > it made me feel like I'd been punched in the stomach. Indeed....there's a line somewhere in Burn's documentary that describes bodies ripped open "like fresh bread." It still gives me the willies - brrrr! --Doc PS Does Sterling have Camera Obscuras in his list of Dead Media?