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America,
the land of the endless horizon.
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In the human imagination,
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it's always been a place
of new beginnings
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and limitless opportunity.
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A frontier to be discovered,
overcome and settled.
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And every step of that journey
has been traced through art.
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The story of American art is as epic
as the story of America itself.
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In this series, I'll follow
the trail left by America's artists,
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from the clash
between man and nature,
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to the clashes of different cultures
and different ideas.
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I'll be exploring the many ways
in which the modern world
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was shaped and structured
here in America.
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Because this is about
America as an idea,
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reproduced and sold through images.
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The images that helped
to forge the American dream,
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yet also mirrored
the truths beneath.
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And ultimately, it's the story
of America's struggle
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to find a sense of identity
and a sense of direction
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in the increasingly fragmented,
uncertain
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and image-saturated world
of the 21st century.
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People have lived in America
for thousands of years,
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yet to the white Europeans who first
came exploring in the 16th century,
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it seemed almost virgin territory,
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a barely-occupied wilderness
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that promised the chance
of a better life.
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The first Englishmen who set foot
on this stretch of coast
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were looking for a new Eden.
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And to promote that idea
to others back home,
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they would use the power of art.
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In the summer of 1585, John White
arrived here in Chesapeake Bay.
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He was the official artist
on an expedition sponsored
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by none other than the enterprising
Sir Walter Raleigh himself.
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Its aim was straightforward -
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observe the lie of the land,
study the local flora and fauna,
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the natural resources,
and then report back.
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Now, because the would-be colonisers
didn't know quite what to expect,
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they went ashore in leather jerkins
and full suits of armour.
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It was July!
The heat was sweltering.
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What a bizarre sight
they must have made,
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this whole troop
of sweaty Elizabethans,
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clanking and clambering
their way into the forests
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of what's now Virginia.
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In fact, the local people turned out
to be friendly at first,
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and over the coming weeks
John White made a whole series
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of breathtakingly vivid,
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deeply poignant watercolours
of the Native American Indian.
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"Every man was attired
in the strangest fashion,"
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wrote one of White's companions.
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"They dance, sing,
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"and use the strangest gestures
that they can possibly devise."
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White's paintings captured the
compelling exoticism of the people,
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the animals and the fruit,
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with a brilliant,
wide-eyed sense of wonder.
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And you can see why White truly
believed that he'd found himself
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in a kind of paradise on Earth.
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White used his pictures
as advertisements
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and recruited more than
100 English settlers,
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including his own daughter
and son-in-law,
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to create a colony here.
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But the reality of life
turned out to be rather less idyllic
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than White's pictures.
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The ill-prepared settlers
had brought no livestock.
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They planted their crops too late,
and harvest failed.
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Most ominously,
an attempt to go fishing
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turned into a violent skirmish
with a local tribe.
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By late 1587, things had gone
very, very badly wrong.
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The Indians had turned
outright hostile,
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and the colony was fast running
out of food and supplies.
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So White decided that he had to get
back to England to bring help.
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When he did finally manage to get
back to the site of the colony,
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more than two years had passed.
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And he found
absolutely nothing here.
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No sign of his daughter,
his son-in-law, his granddaughter.
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The whole colony
had entirely disappeared,
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and no-one knows to this day
just what happened to it.
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White's hopes of founding
the first English colony in America
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were dashed forever.
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His beautiful images had turned out
to be little more
than empty promises.
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But others were not deterred.
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The prospect of a new continent with
virgin land was simply irresistible.
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European explorers
grabbed whatever they could
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in a ferocious scramble
for territory.
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English traders
established Virginia in 1607.
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Meanwhile the French,
Spanish and Dutch
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all greedily claimed
their own territories elsewhere.
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But the New World was also a magnet
for breakaway religious groups,
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each hoping to build
their own New Jerusalem.
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Like the English Pilgrims
who arrived in 1620,
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and the Puritans, who soon followed.
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America in the 17th century
was both a land of opportunity,
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and a place of refuge.
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In the heart of
present-day Massachusetts
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is the Worcester Art Museum.
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Inside are two portraits
by an unknown artist
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that bring us face to face
with the kind of people
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who chose the New World
over the Old.
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I'd like to introduce you
to Mr and Mrs Freake.
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These are, we think,
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among the very first paintings
of settlers in America,
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so when we look at them,
we're looking at the very DNA
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both of modern American civilisation
and of American art.
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So who were they?
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John Freake was a Puritan,
an attorney and a merchant,
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who settled in Boston in 1658
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and, as his portrait shows us,
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he did very well for himself
and he was rather proud of it.
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Look at this elaborate lace collar,
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and with his left hand,
he flourishes the jewel
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that is the symbol
of his prosperity.
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It's a picture that rather punctures
the preconception of the Puritan
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as a joyless individual who's
embarrassed by material prosperity.
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Puritans in America
were nothing like that.
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If they did well, they saw it
as a mark of God's providence.
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And that pleasure in doing well
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00:09:03,060 --> 00:09:05,700
is something that still survives
in America today.
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There's no need to be ashamed
of having got on.
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If we move to Mrs Freake,
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which is actually my favourite
of these two pictures,
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what a wonderfully vivid image
it is.
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00:09:19,380 --> 00:09:22,940
Like her husband, Mrs Freake
is very proud of the fact
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that they've done well.
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She, too, has got
a very elaborate lace collar,
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she's wearing her jewels,
she's definitely in her Sunday best.
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But what is she most proud of?
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She's most proud of her little girl,
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and we know this from an X-ray,
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because X-rays show that,
originally,
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she was depicted
merely holding a book,
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but then she gave birth
to her little girl,
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called the artist back in,
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and insisted
that he depicted Mary on her lap.
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Now what does that child stand for,
what's going on in this picture?
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Well, I think the child
stands for the future.
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This child stands for the fact
that these people
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and their descendents
are here to stay.
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During the first few centuries
of colonisation,
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American art was
predominantly Protestant
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and inescapably provincial.
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It was the art
of the second-rate portrait,
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the not-quite-van Dyck,
the nearly-Gainsborough.
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Although these are still poignant
records of their sitters' status
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and ambitions.
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These are the people who brought
to America their dreams
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of a spiritual utopia.
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But they also unwittingly
brought something else -
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deadly diseases
that would prove fatal
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to the local Indian population.
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Decimated by terrifying European
illnesses like smallpox and measles,
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the Native Americans
abandoned great swathes of land,
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which the new settlers
quickly claimed as their own.
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00:11:26,060 --> 00:11:29,340
An unintentional genocide
through germs
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soon became colonial practice
through the power of the gun.
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And so the frontier was rolled out.
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In California alone, there were
once 200 distinct Indian groups,
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speaking more than 100
different languages.
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Now, so many of those cultures that
had extended across the continent
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exist only as fragments in museums.
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They're the shattered pieces
of a broken puzzle
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that can never be
put back together.
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I think the very phrase
"Native American culture"
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is inherently misleading
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because it suggests
we're talking about one thing
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but we're not,
we're talking about a hundred,
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a thousand different civilisations,
cultures, societies,
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interlocking across
a vast continent,
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each one with its own
complicated, subtle history.
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Here,
we're looking at the last remains
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of one of around 100 societies
that lived in the Midwest,
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around the area of the Mississippi,
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at the time that we now call
the Renaissance.
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What can we say about them
on the basis of these relics?
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Well, they had a very sophisticated,
settled society.
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They weren't nomads.
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They were proud and warlike.
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It's thought that
this terracotta head
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represents a captive
taken in battle.
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00:13:07,020 --> 00:13:09,020
They had their own myths
and legends,
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their own mythical creatures,
in this case the frog.
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They seem to have regarded the frog
as the image of a cosmic traveller,
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moving from one realm to another,
from water to land.
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But the rest is really a mystery.
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Look at those maskettes,
as they're called,
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these extraordinary,
staring little faces
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with their elongated
Pinocchio noses.
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Nobody knows what they represent.
Nobody knows what they meant.
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And there's the thing, because when
you destroy an entire civilisation,
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an entire set of civilisations,
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you also destroy the possibility
of writing its history.
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The official history
of colonised America
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would be
a selectively-edited account
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that gloried in the building
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00:14:15,140 --> 00:14:17,900
of gleaming new cities
like Philadelphia
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but conveniently ignored
the grim reality
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of how it was all actually done.
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One of the functions of art
in America, then,
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was to be part of a cover-up,
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and the chief cover-up artist
was a painter called Benjamin West.
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00:14:36,580 --> 00:14:41,180
Benjamin West was America's first
internationally-famous artist.
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00:14:41,180 --> 00:14:43,820
He was born here in Pennsylvania,
a Quaker,
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and he circulated the legend
that when he was a child,
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Native American Indians
taught him to paint,
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00:14:49,340 --> 00:14:51,420
taught him how to grind pigments.
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00:14:51,420 --> 00:14:54,500
But while he liked to play
on his exotic origins,
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he was, in fact,
a thoroughly modern American,
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00:14:57,260 --> 00:15:00,340
a brilliant salesman
of his own reputation,
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00:15:00,340 --> 00:15:04,380
and he invented a new kind of
storytelling art,
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00:15:04,380 --> 00:15:07,020
one that would be
profoundly useful to those
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who would forge
the future of this nation.
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00:15:16,140 --> 00:15:18,020
The Pennsylvania Academy
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00:15:18,020 --> 00:15:21,740
is the oldest picture gallery
in the United States.
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00:15:21,740 --> 00:15:26,740
Within it is one of Benjamin West's
most celebrated works,
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a fine example
of his main invention,
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00:15:29,580 --> 00:15:31,380
the modern history painting.
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00:15:33,260 --> 00:15:38,380
Yet it's also a picture that pulses
with the energy of a dark secret.
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00:15:46,060 --> 00:15:49,140
Penn's Treaty With The Indians
was created,
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quite literally,
in order to frame history,
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00:15:53,180 --> 00:15:57,260
in particular, the history of
the settlement of Pennsylvania
218
00:15:57,260 --> 00:16:00,460
and the foundation
of its capital city, Philadelphia,
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00:16:00,460 --> 00:16:06,980
to frame those histories
as dignified, orderly, just,
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00:16:06,980 --> 00:16:10,260
compassionate and tolerant.
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00:16:10,260 --> 00:16:15,820
On the left, we've got William
Penn, the founder of Philadelphia,
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and he's presenting
the Indians with a treaty.
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00:16:19,860 --> 00:16:22,020
And on this side of the picture,
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00:16:22,020 --> 00:16:25,900
he's depicted the Native American
Indians as a group.
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00:16:25,900 --> 00:16:28,620
West said the subject
of his painting
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00:16:28,620 --> 00:16:31,900
was the civilisation
of the savage.
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00:16:33,740 --> 00:16:37,820
How does he represent this notion
that they're going to be civilised?
228
00:16:38,900 --> 00:16:43,060
Interestingly,
he relegates the treaty to shadow,
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00:16:43,060 --> 00:16:46,820
and what he casts into light
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is this bolt of white cloth,
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00:16:49,220 --> 00:16:52,220
held by the generic figure
of the trader.
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00:16:53,900 --> 00:16:58,060
It's an image that exactly,
exactly recalls
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00:16:58,060 --> 00:17:01,460
the adoration of the shepherds
at the birth of Christ.
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00:17:04,260 --> 00:17:08,060
This is the sanitised version
of American history,
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00:17:08,060 --> 00:17:10,620
that the god of free trade
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00:17:10,620 --> 00:17:13,380
transformed noble savages
into civilised men,
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00:17:13,380 --> 00:17:16,420
effortlessly absorbing them
into the republic.
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00:17:19,100 --> 00:17:22,100
The painting soon became
THE classic image
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00:17:22,100 --> 00:17:25,180
of the bloodless colonisation
of America,
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00:17:25,180 --> 00:17:28,420
but it's propaganda,
a blatant lie.
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00:17:30,700 --> 00:17:34,900
William Penn may indeed have
looked kindly on the local tribes,
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00:17:34,900 --> 00:17:37,100
but by the time this picture
was commissioned,
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00:17:37,100 --> 00:17:39,980
some 50 years after his death,
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00:17:39,980 --> 00:17:44,980
the colonists and the Native Indians
were locked in a bitter war.
245
00:17:47,220 --> 00:17:50,580
This was a war marked
on the British side
246
00:17:50,580 --> 00:17:53,420
by all kinds
of appalling skulduggery.
247
00:17:53,420 --> 00:17:58,900
On one occasion in 1763, during
supposed negotiations for peace,
248
00:17:58,900 --> 00:18:03,180
the British representative
handed to the Indians
249
00:18:03,180 --> 00:18:08,660
a pile of blankets that they'd taken
from their own smallpox hospital.
250
00:18:08,660 --> 00:18:12,060
This was an early example
of germ warfare
251
00:18:12,060 --> 00:18:14,140
and it proved horribly effective,
252
00:18:14,140 --> 00:18:18,220
and it certainly gives
a really unpleasant twist,
253
00:18:18,220 --> 00:18:22,420
an ironic twist,
to that bolt of white cloth
254
00:18:22,420 --> 00:18:24,660
in the centre of West's painting.
255
00:18:42,780 --> 00:18:47,700
Even as they trampled over
the Indians in the name of progress,
256
00:18:47,700 --> 00:18:52,380
colonists in America felt that
they themselves were being abused
257
00:18:52,380 --> 00:18:56,340
by their Imperial masters
back in Britain.
258
00:18:57,340 --> 00:18:59,820
The 13 North American colonies
259
00:18:59,820 --> 00:19:02,020
traded with the rest
of the British Empire
260
00:19:02,020 --> 00:19:03,940
through thriving ports
like Boston.
261
00:19:05,020 --> 00:19:09,540
But they quickly became frustrated
with the harsh terms of trade
262
00:19:09,540 --> 00:19:11,420
being imposed on them.
263
00:19:11,420 --> 00:19:14,420
The trouble began when the British
264
00:19:14,420 --> 00:19:17,100
put the squeeze on their
American subjects,
265
00:19:17,100 --> 00:19:20,900
principally by raising tax
on imported goods.
266
00:19:20,900 --> 00:19:24,820
In particular, they had a monopoly
on the import of tea,
267
00:19:24,820 --> 00:19:28,500
for the privilege of purchasing
which Americans were now forced
268
00:19:28,500 --> 00:19:32,900
to pay an increasingly
exorbitant level of import duty.
269
00:19:32,900 --> 00:19:36,500
Things came to a head in 1773,
270
00:19:36,500 --> 00:19:40,860
when a group of some 60 Bostonians
came down to the docks,
271
00:19:40,860 --> 00:19:44,940
seized an entire consignment
of tea from a ship belonging to
272
00:19:44,940 --> 00:19:48,980
the British East India Company,
and hurled it into the water.
273
00:19:48,980 --> 00:19:51,820
The Boston Tea Party,
as it came to be known,
274
00:19:51,820 --> 00:19:55,860
was copied in other cities
across the Eastern seaboard.
275
00:19:55,860 --> 00:19:58,060
The British response was ruthless.
276
00:19:58,060 --> 00:20:02,220
They passed a bill declaring
the port of Boston itself closed.
277
00:20:02,220 --> 00:20:04,660
And as George Washington
famously said,
278
00:20:04,660 --> 00:20:08,460
"The cause of Boston
is now the cause of America."
279
00:20:08,460 --> 00:20:10,980
What had begun
as an act of rebellion
280
00:20:10,980 --> 00:20:13,380
had become all-out revolution.
281
00:20:16,980 --> 00:20:21,220
The story was told in cheap,
hand-coloured prints and engravings.
282
00:20:23,340 --> 00:20:25,540
The first battle
between the British troops
283
00:20:25,540 --> 00:20:30,540
and the American revolutionaries
took place at Lexington in 1775.
284
00:20:30,540 --> 00:20:33,660
Through six years
of bloody conflict,
285
00:20:33,660 --> 00:20:37,500
the rebels, with the help of
England's old enemy, the French,
286
00:20:37,500 --> 00:20:39,500
gradually gained the upper hand.
287
00:20:40,540 --> 00:20:43,660
In 1781, General George Washington
288
00:20:43,660 --> 00:20:47,500
secured the decisive
American victory at Yorktown.
289
00:20:47,500 --> 00:20:51,180
A young, provincial nation
had won its liberty.
290
00:20:56,620 --> 00:20:58,860
Now, America's founding fathers
291
00:20:58,860 --> 00:21:02,100
needed a capital worthy
of the noble aspirations
292
00:21:02,100 --> 00:21:04,540
laid out in their
Declaration of Independence.
293
00:21:08,980 --> 00:21:12,900
And so they chose to build
a new Rome.
294
00:21:22,700 --> 00:21:25,260
The decision to make
the neoclassical style
295
00:21:25,260 --> 00:21:28,260
THE style of government
in Washington, in America,
296
00:21:28,260 --> 00:21:30,220
was loaded with significance.
297
00:21:30,220 --> 00:21:33,980
It said this new republic
is a democracy.
298
00:21:33,980 --> 00:21:40,300
It's based on the principles of
order, clarity, rationality, purity.
299
00:21:40,300 --> 00:21:43,020
But as well as expressing
the supposed values
300
00:21:43,020 --> 00:21:44,780
of Ancient Greece and Rome,
301
00:21:44,780 --> 00:21:48,020
I think a building such as this
also looks forward,
302
00:21:48,020 --> 00:21:53,100
because what's truly new about it
is its enormous, monumental scale,
303
00:21:53,100 --> 00:21:57,580
and I think what that expresses
is the founding fathers' sense
304
00:21:57,580 --> 00:22:01,020
of the scale of the task
that lies ahead of them.
305
00:22:01,020 --> 00:22:05,700
The shaping of this vast continent
into a single nation.
306
00:22:05,700 --> 00:22:10,980
And I also think its scale
expresses a hope, a proud hope,
307
00:22:10,980 --> 00:22:17,260
that perhaps this new republic,
this America, may turn out to be
308
00:22:17,260 --> 00:22:20,900
one of the greatest civilisations
the world has ever known.
309
00:22:27,020 --> 00:22:30,340
As well as creating
an architectural legacy,
310
00:22:30,340 --> 00:22:31,900
America's founding fathers
311
00:22:31,900 --> 00:22:34,940
wanted a pictorial tribute
to the birth of their nation,
312
00:22:34,940 --> 00:22:38,740
to be installed inside the grandest
of their new government buildings,
313
00:22:38,740 --> 00:22:40,060
the Capitol.
314
00:22:42,860 --> 00:22:46,140
They turned to an artist
called John Trumbull,
315
00:22:46,140 --> 00:22:51,060
an adequate portrait painter who
struggled to rise to this challenge.
316
00:22:53,220 --> 00:22:57,900
And what you see here is the
familiar language of portraiture,
317
00:22:57,900 --> 00:23:03,940
applied rather uneasily and stiffly
to grand historical narrative.
318
00:23:06,220 --> 00:23:09,460
Perhaps I should whisper it
in these august precincts,
319
00:23:09,460 --> 00:23:11,300
but John Trumbull,
320
00:23:11,300 --> 00:23:16,100
whose principle works
decorate the rotunda of the Capitol,
321
00:23:16,100 --> 00:23:22,180
was quite possibly the single
most boring painter
322
00:23:22,180 --> 00:23:24,780
in the entire history
of American art.
323
00:23:24,780 --> 00:23:26,540
What's he done here?
324
00:23:26,540 --> 00:23:30,980
He's taken one, two,
three, four events
325
00:23:30,980 --> 00:23:35,220
at the centre of
the American War of Independence
326
00:23:35,220 --> 00:23:37,300
and turned them into nothing more
327
00:23:37,300 --> 00:23:41,940
than a sequence of
stultifyingly dull group portraits.
328
00:23:41,940 --> 00:23:44,820
The Declaration of Independence,
329
00:23:44,820 --> 00:23:49,260
depicted with all the panache and
excitement of a school photograph.
330
00:23:49,260 --> 00:23:51,900
The surrender
at the Battle of Saratoga,
331
00:23:51,900 --> 00:23:57,580
depicted as an encounter between
two groups of utterly bored generals
332
00:23:57,580 --> 00:23:59,500
and their hangers-on.
333
00:23:59,500 --> 00:24:03,700
Trumbull was profoundly incapable
of depicting action,
334
00:24:03,700 --> 00:24:06,700
so when he painted war,
he didn't actually paint the battle,
335
00:24:06,700 --> 00:24:08,180
he painted the surrender.
336
00:24:08,180 --> 00:24:11,620
Here, we've got the surrender
of Lord Cornwallis,
337
00:24:11,620 --> 00:24:17,100
depicted as an encounter
between two rows of tin soldiers.
338
00:24:17,100 --> 00:24:20,900
And, finally,
another school photograph,
339
00:24:20,900 --> 00:24:24,020
George Washington
handing in his commission
340
00:24:24,020 --> 00:24:27,620
so that he can become
President of America.
341
00:24:27,620 --> 00:24:29,900
But in a funny way,
342
00:24:29,900 --> 00:24:34,340
by presenting history
as this succession of dull friezes,
343
00:24:34,340 --> 00:24:38,020
by making history so boring,
344
00:24:38,020 --> 00:24:42,260
Trumbull also made it
seem inevitable.
345
00:24:42,260 --> 00:24:46,780
This was destined to happen,
346
00:24:46,780 --> 00:24:50,420
and that sense of inevitability
was carried on by other artists
347
00:24:50,420 --> 00:24:55,580
who work in this space,
notably Constantino Brumidi,
348
00:24:55,580 --> 00:24:58,180
who, in the 1860s -
he was an Italian painter -
349
00:24:58,180 --> 00:25:00,540
in the 1860s, completed this space
350
00:25:00,540 --> 00:25:03,380
with this truly absurd
Baroque flourish of a fresco
351
00:25:03,380 --> 00:25:06,180
depicting the apotheosis
of Washington.
352
00:25:06,180 --> 00:25:10,500
There he is in his purple toga,
being wafted up to heaven.
353
00:25:11,740 --> 00:25:15,980
It's a true deep-pan pizza of
a picture.
354
00:25:18,060 --> 00:25:24,620
But in a strange way, I think
it is an apt topping to this space.
355
00:25:30,420 --> 00:25:32,620
For much of the 19th century,
356
00:25:32,620 --> 00:25:36,340
American artists would divide
into two camps -
357
00:25:36,340 --> 00:25:39,620
those who supported government
and all it stood for,
358
00:25:39,620 --> 00:25:42,980
and those who questioned it.
359
00:25:49,220 --> 00:25:52,580
Washington policy favoured
unlimited westward expansion,
360
00:25:52,580 --> 00:25:57,020
towards a frontier
of unknown opportunities and perils.
361
00:26:05,300 --> 00:26:07,300
The myth of the conquest of the West
362
00:26:07,300 --> 00:26:10,540
is deeply engrained
in America's national identity.
363
00:26:15,540 --> 00:26:19,380
And no painting
depicts that myth more vividly
364
00:26:19,380 --> 00:26:24,420
than Emanuel Leutze's picture,
Westward Ho, of 1865.
365
00:26:28,740 --> 00:26:32,700
Here are all the familiar elements
of a thousand movies -
366
00:26:32,700 --> 00:26:35,020
the covered wagons,
367
00:26:35,020 --> 00:26:37,300
the plucky pioneers
368
00:26:37,300 --> 00:26:41,460
and, on the horizon,
the Promised Land itself.
369
00:26:44,380 --> 00:26:47,460
But if you really want to see
the pioneer spirit in art,
370
00:26:47,460 --> 00:26:50,820
you need to look elsewhere,
371
00:26:50,820 --> 00:26:56,940
to the work of a man who was himself
a pioneer, John James Audubon.
372
00:26:56,940 --> 00:27:00,340
He celebrated the beauties
of America's Promised Land,
373
00:27:00,340 --> 00:27:04,020
but also counted the cost
of the push west.
374
00:27:06,380 --> 00:27:09,140
It's a heck of thing, isn't it?
375
00:27:09,140 --> 00:27:12,540
It's huge.
It's the double-elephant folio.
376
00:27:12,540 --> 00:27:16,660
'Audubon's great work
was an illustrated book,
377
00:27:16,660 --> 00:27:18,740
'which he began in 1827.
378
00:27:18,740 --> 00:27:21,740
'It's one of the masterpieces
of world art,
379
00:27:21,740 --> 00:27:25,100
'The Birds Of America.'
380
00:27:25,100 --> 00:27:28,660
I'm curious to know,
what is the very first bird? OK.
381
00:27:28,660 --> 00:27:33,020
I'm assuming it's going to be
the American eagle.
382
00:27:33,020 --> 00:27:36,540
Au contraire! No?
383
00:27:36,540 --> 00:27:41,140
Oh, my God,
is that beautiful? Wow! Wow!
384
00:27:41,140 --> 00:27:42,660
It's the turkey!
385
00:27:42,660 --> 00:27:46,900
Yeah. Audubon's first plate
of Birds Of America
386
00:27:46,900 --> 00:27:49,140
was the wild turkey.
387
00:27:49,140 --> 00:27:50,980
It's a stunning big bird
388
00:27:50,980 --> 00:27:54,820
and of course, part of the reason
for the double-elephant folio
389
00:27:54,820 --> 00:27:58,020
was so that he could do everything
lifesize.
390
00:27:58,340 --> 00:28:00,340
That's beautifully detailed.
391
00:28:00,340 --> 00:28:03,380
You are yourself an artist as well
as a scientist, aren't you,
392
00:28:03,380 --> 00:28:06,420
and a draughtsman?
393
00:28:06,420 --> 00:28:10,340
When you look at Audubon,
what excites you?
394
00:28:10,340 --> 00:28:14,300
What makes him
a great ornithological artist?
395
00:28:14,300 --> 00:28:17,220
Boy! Well, up until this time,
396
00:28:17,220 --> 00:28:23,700
birds were portrayed in
a very static, scientific way...
397
00:28:23,700 --> 00:28:26,740
..without the vivaciousness
398
00:28:26,740 --> 00:28:31,580
of them actually alive
in their natural habitat.
399
00:28:31,580 --> 00:28:32,820
That's what Audubon did.
400
00:28:32,820 --> 00:28:35,900
This bird, it looks like it's ready
to walk right off the page.
401
00:28:35,900 --> 00:28:38,940
In fact it's going to, it's not even
looking where it's going.
402
00:28:38,940 --> 00:28:41,780
(LAUGHS) I was going to say,
it's got attitude.
403
00:28:41,780 --> 00:28:43,860
This turkey is so human.
404
00:28:43,860 --> 00:28:46,780
How many times have you walked
through the woods
405
00:28:46,780 --> 00:28:48,060
or down the sidewalk
406
00:28:48,060 --> 00:28:52,460
or to the coffee shop
and you've just been striding along
407
00:28:52,460 --> 00:28:55,380
and you're looking back
over your shoulder
408
00:28:55,380 --> 00:28:57,620
to see who might be
looking at you
409
00:28:57,620 --> 00:28:59,060
and who's recognised you?
410
00:28:59,060 --> 00:29:02,620
This is a sort of turkey on
Broadway, checking somebody out.
411
00:29:02,620 --> 00:29:04,700
Yes!
He's got a wonderful, beady eye!
412
00:29:05,820 --> 00:29:07,780
Can we look at some more, please?
413
00:29:07,780 --> 00:29:13,220
Sure, OK, We'll turn deeper
into volume one.
414
00:29:13,220 --> 00:29:15,460
And thank you for assisting me.
415
00:29:15,460 --> 00:29:18,020
You tell me,
I need to put my hand...?
416
00:29:18,020 --> 00:29:22,780
Yes. And don't touch the image of
course. No, no. I won't. That's it.
417
00:29:22,780 --> 00:29:25,340
And then, just let it...
418
00:29:26,580 --> 00:29:29,420
..fall. Oh, what a contrast.
419
00:29:29,420 --> 00:29:30,540
Bewick's Wren.
420
00:29:32,900 --> 00:29:34,980
It's lovely, isn't it?
What is that?
421
00:29:34,980 --> 00:29:37,420
Fragile, cautious little creature,
422
00:29:37,420 --> 00:29:40,300
looking around to see
if anyone's watching.
423
00:29:40,300 --> 00:29:44,940
I like the way detail
is just like, flipped up,
424
00:29:44,940 --> 00:29:47,100
the movement of it.
425
00:29:47,100 --> 00:29:50,300
He does look like
he's ready to take off.
426
00:29:50,300 --> 00:29:53,740
He almost wants to have the bird
like a wildlife filmmaker would,
427
00:29:53,740 --> 00:29:56,100
actually caught in life.
428
00:29:56,100 --> 00:29:57,340
Exactly.
429
00:29:57,340 --> 00:30:01,540
And you've just nailed it, really,
because these birds are alive.
430
00:30:02,780 --> 00:30:04,420
That bird is alive. I mean...
431
00:30:05,580 --> 00:30:07,700
..you flip a page and you think,
432
00:30:07,700 --> 00:30:10,020
"God, can we contain it
in the book?"
433
00:30:10,020 --> 00:30:12,140
Is it going to get away from us?
434
00:30:12,140 --> 00:30:14,540
(LAUGHS) Like that's going
to fly away!
435
00:30:14,540 --> 00:30:16,780
We'd better flip the page
before it gets away.
436
00:30:16,780 --> 00:30:18,260
Where are we going to go next?
437
00:30:22,140 --> 00:30:25,540
Just concentrate for this bit.
Yes, OK, we're OK.
438
00:30:27,220 --> 00:30:30,780
The Ruffed Grouse.
That's another spectacular one.
439
00:30:30,780 --> 00:30:33,260
I mean, I guess the big question is,
440
00:30:33,260 --> 00:30:37,140
what do you think was
the driving ambition behind it all?
441
00:30:37,140 --> 00:30:43,220
Is it that he wants to record
every single bird in America?
442
00:30:43,220 --> 00:30:45,060
That was his obsession.
443
00:30:45,060 --> 00:30:48,540
He travelled all over
the United States, he went out west,
444
00:30:48,540 --> 00:30:51,420
he went all the way down south
to Florida, Louisiana,
445
00:30:51,420 --> 00:30:59,580
he was an early, true, in the sense
of the American...frontier,
446
00:30:59,580 --> 00:31:04,620
an adventurer, a frontiersman,
an outdoorsman.
447
00:31:05,860 --> 00:31:09,460
His mission was to take
trip after trip,
448
00:31:09,460 --> 00:31:13,660
to discover these birds
and paint every damn one of them.
449
00:31:15,740 --> 00:31:18,220
Whoa, that is stunning.
450
00:31:19,580 --> 00:31:21,380
That is absolutely stunning.
451
00:31:22,620 --> 00:31:23,860
I love this one.
452
00:31:23,860 --> 00:31:25,220
He's looking right at you.
453
00:31:25,220 --> 00:31:26,500
Looking straight at me.
454
00:31:26,500 --> 00:31:31,180
It's the only parakeet that
occurred in North America.
455
00:31:31,180 --> 00:31:35,740
This is an example of a bird
that went extinct.
456
00:31:35,740 --> 00:31:42,140
Farmers viewed them as a pest and
these did get shot in large numbers.
457
00:31:42,140 --> 00:31:44,580
And Audubon used this phrase,
which is shocking,
458
00:31:44,580 --> 00:31:48,260
but he talked about
the murderous white man
459
00:31:48,260 --> 00:31:51,900
and how everything was getting
pushed westward.
460
00:31:51,900 --> 00:31:57,660
The birds, the mammals,
nature itself, you know,
461
00:31:57,660 --> 00:32:02,060
our idea was we have to control it,
we have to own it,
462
00:32:02,060 --> 00:32:05,860
we have to fight it into submission,
we have to grow crops.
463
00:32:05,860 --> 00:32:08,780
So in his imagination the march,
464
00:32:08,780 --> 00:32:12,980
the onward march of civilisation
west, also represents...
465
00:32:12,980 --> 00:32:16,380
It also represented a fleeing
from the murderous white man.
466
00:32:19,020 --> 00:32:20,420
WHISTLING
467
00:32:21,980 --> 00:32:25,460
As settlers fanned out
across the Continent,
468
00:32:25,460 --> 00:32:27,860
they transformed the land.
469
00:32:27,860 --> 00:32:32,580
To the south were great plantations
made possible through the import
470
00:32:32,580 --> 00:32:35,140
of hundreds of thousands
of African slaves.
471
00:32:37,180 --> 00:32:41,220
To the north sprang up
industrialised cities and factories.
472
00:32:43,300 --> 00:32:46,180
And as the frontier pushed west
towards the sea,
473
00:32:46,180 --> 00:32:48,980
so in its wake followed the machine
474
00:32:48,980 --> 00:32:53,220
that did most to change the face
of 19th-century America,
475
00:32:53,220 --> 00:32:54,620
the train.
476
00:33:00,500 --> 00:33:04,180
The pace at which the railway
network expanded in the US
477
00:33:04,180 --> 00:33:05,740
was truly staggering.
478
00:33:05,740 --> 00:33:11,740
Between 1828 and 1840, they laid
some 3,300 miles of track here.
479
00:33:11,740 --> 00:33:15,820
That's twice as much track
as existed in the whole of Europe.
480
00:33:15,820 --> 00:33:18,380
Of course,
the railway companies billed this
481
00:33:18,380 --> 00:33:20,660
as the inevitable march of progress,
482
00:33:20,660 --> 00:33:23,300
but many other people
regarded it with alarm,
483
00:33:23,300 --> 00:33:27,580
in particular, the writer Henry
David Thoreau counted the human cost
484
00:33:27,580 --> 00:33:31,780
of constructing these networks
of iron.
485
00:33:31,780 --> 00:33:37,500
He wrote, "We do not ride on
the railroad, it rides upon us.
486
00:33:37,500 --> 00:33:40,540
"Did you ever think
what these sleepers are
487
00:33:40,540 --> 00:33:42,860
"that underlie the railroad?
488
00:33:42,860 --> 00:33:48,060
"Each one is a man,
an Irishman or a Yankee man.
489
00:33:48,060 --> 00:33:50,260
"The rails are laid on them
490
00:33:50,260 --> 00:33:54,980
"and they are covered with sand
and the cars run smoothly over them.
491
00:33:54,980 --> 00:33:58,020
"They are sound sleepers,
I assure you."
492
00:34:13,060 --> 00:34:17,540
The people who suffered most at
the hands of the advancing white man
493
00:34:17,540 --> 00:34:21,140
were, of course,
the Native Americans.
494
00:34:22,620 --> 00:34:23,820
By the 1820s,
495
00:34:23,820 --> 00:34:27,540
the last vestiges of the great
Indian nations of the Northeast,
496
00:34:27,540 --> 00:34:29,500
the Iroquois and the Mohicans,
497
00:34:29,500 --> 00:34:32,380
had been corralled
into remote reservations
498
00:34:32,380 --> 00:34:34,540
where they faced
an uncertain future.
499
00:34:38,620 --> 00:34:40,500
Against this backdrop,
500
00:34:40,500 --> 00:34:45,980
a little-known artist-frontiersman
began an ambitious project -
501
00:34:45,980 --> 00:34:49,060
to make a record of
America's vanishing tribes,
502
00:34:49,060 --> 00:34:52,420
much as Audubon recorded
the country's birds.
503
00:34:55,140 --> 00:34:58,780
The result was a series
of more than 500 paintings,
504
00:34:58,780 --> 00:35:01,580
produced over a period of
almost 40 years,
505
00:35:01,580 --> 00:35:04,860
of which these are just a few.
506
00:35:10,500 --> 00:35:15,380
George Catlin,
the man who preserved these solemn,
507
00:35:15,380 --> 00:35:18,500
beautiful, melancholy faces,
508
00:35:18,500 --> 00:35:21,060
was himself
one of the great characters
509
00:35:21,060 --> 00:35:23,140
of 19th-century American art.
510
00:35:23,140 --> 00:35:26,580
He was an entrepreneur as well
as a painter and, in fact,
511
00:35:26,580 --> 00:35:29,260
he went on tour with these pictures,
512
00:35:29,260 --> 00:35:32,740
indeed with some
Native American Indians as well.
513
00:35:32,740 --> 00:35:34,220
He went to Europe.
514
00:35:34,220 --> 00:35:37,260
He introduced them
to the kings of France and Belgium,
515
00:35:37,260 --> 00:35:40,020
even to Queen Victoria herself.
516
00:35:40,020 --> 00:35:42,460
But it would be wrong
to think of him
517
00:35:42,460 --> 00:35:44,980
as a mere opportunist, a showman.
518
00:35:44,980 --> 00:35:48,660
He wasn't like that. He cared about
these people every bit as deeply
519
00:35:48,660 --> 00:35:53,180
as Audubon cared about
the birds of America,
520
00:35:53,180 --> 00:35:58,300
because he fears they're a race
on the point of extinction.
521
00:35:58,300 --> 00:36:02,300
That fact distresses him
very deeply, because to Catlin,
522
00:36:02,300 --> 00:36:06,620
these are the noblest surviving
people in the whole world.
523
00:36:06,620 --> 00:36:11,700
It might seem strange to us,
but he sees them as the descendants
524
00:36:11,700 --> 00:36:17,340
of the Ancient Greeks, people
of nobility, simplicity and purity.
525
00:36:20,220 --> 00:36:23,260
But purity and simplicity
were no match for the forces
526
00:36:23,260 --> 00:36:27,140
of hard-headed expansionism
and naked greed.
527
00:36:28,860 --> 00:36:32,220
To the decision-makers
in government,
528
00:36:32,220 --> 00:36:35,100
the Indians were simply
an impediment
529
00:36:35,100 --> 00:36:37,700
to the spread
of American society.
530
00:36:39,100 --> 00:36:42,740
In 1830, President Andrew Jackson's
administration
531
00:36:42,740 --> 00:36:46,020
passed the Indian Removal Act.
532
00:36:46,020 --> 00:36:51,100
It amounted to the ethnic cleansing
of the eastern United States.
533
00:36:56,660 --> 00:37:01,020
Some American artists feared
the vanishing of Indian culture
534
00:37:01,020 --> 00:37:02,540
was just the start.
535
00:37:02,540 --> 00:37:06,700
That soon, the American landscape
itself would be obliterated.
536
00:37:13,260 --> 00:37:17,860
This is Kaaterskill Falls
in upstate New York
537
00:37:17,860 --> 00:37:21,260
and it was a favourite subject
of Thomas Cole,
538
00:37:21,260 --> 00:37:25,580
unquestionably the greatest American
landscape painter
539
00:37:25,580 --> 00:37:27,060
of the 19th century.
540
00:37:28,860 --> 00:37:33,780
Cole was born in 1801 in Bolton
in the north of England,
541
00:37:33,780 --> 00:37:36,580
a place of dark, satanic mills,
542
00:37:36,580 --> 00:37:40,020
and he'd trained as an engraver
at a textile designers.
543
00:37:44,220 --> 00:37:47,380
His family emigrated to Ohio
when Cole was 17,
544
00:37:47,380 --> 00:37:50,740
and from the moment
he first began to explore
545
00:37:50,740 --> 00:37:52,460
the eastern United States,
546
00:37:52,460 --> 00:37:57,060
at the age of 22, he decided
to devote his life to recording
547
00:37:57,060 --> 00:37:59,620
the epic wilderness
he found around him,
548
00:37:59,620 --> 00:38:02,780
here in the Catskill Mountains.
549
00:38:18,780 --> 00:38:21,860
Thomas Cole loved this spot
and he came here often.
550
00:38:21,860 --> 00:38:24,340
Making the pilgrimage to this place
551
00:38:24,340 --> 00:38:29,020
feels very much like travelling
to the source of his imagination.
552
00:38:29,020 --> 00:38:35,900
This is wild, untamed, grand,
sublime American nature, in the raw.
553
00:38:35,900 --> 00:38:39,140
Now the waterfall was
a very important symbol to Cole.
554
00:38:39,140 --> 00:38:42,340
What it stood for was
the purity of nature
555
00:38:42,340 --> 00:38:45,820
as opposed to
the polluted waters of the rivers
556
00:38:45,820 --> 00:38:49,260
running through
America's new rash of cities.
557
00:38:50,620 --> 00:38:54,820
I also think his eye was drawn
to that grand rock formation,
558
00:38:54,820 --> 00:38:58,860
rather like a cathedral,
which seems to lead the eye upwards,
559
00:38:58,860 --> 00:39:01,980
towards the sky,
perhaps towards God.
560
00:39:23,020 --> 00:39:27,460
This vividly evocative painting
of Kaaterskill Falls from 1826
561
00:39:27,460 --> 00:39:29,460
is perhaps Cole's finest.
562
00:39:31,580 --> 00:39:34,180
But it's also a picture
full of disquiet.
563
00:39:35,620 --> 00:39:37,820
There are black skies overhead.
564
00:39:41,460 --> 00:39:44,940
And in the river below,
the remains of a blasted tree.
565
00:39:46,780 --> 00:39:50,420
Cole was aware that the sublime
beauty of American nature
566
00:39:50,420 --> 00:39:51,620
was under threat.
567
00:39:54,100 --> 00:39:59,380
And he has placed, on the edge
of the falls, a lone Indian.
568
00:39:59,380 --> 00:40:03,020
He stands for everything
that is fast disappearing.
569
00:40:03,020 --> 00:40:05,860
He is, to borrow a phrase
from Cole's friend,
570
00:40:05,860 --> 00:40:08,540
the novelist James Fenimore Cooper,
571
00:40:08,540 --> 00:40:10,620
the last of the Mohicans.
572
00:40:16,980 --> 00:40:21,500
This is Thomas Cole's house at
the edge of the Catskill mountains,
573
00:40:21,500 --> 00:40:24,060
just 100 miles north
of New York City.
574
00:40:25,180 --> 00:40:28,740
From here, Cole watched
the landscape being ravaged
575
00:40:28,740 --> 00:40:33,460
as "civilisation" began to encroach
on what had once been wilderness.
576
00:40:37,380 --> 00:40:40,060
This view from the porch
is an invention.
577
00:40:42,300 --> 00:40:44,140
By the time Cole painted it,
578
00:40:44,140 --> 00:40:46,980
the smoke from
those distant homesteads
579
00:40:46,980 --> 00:40:49,940
had been blotted out
by the steam from a railroad
580
00:40:49,940 --> 00:40:52,780
that ran close to Cole's house.
581
00:40:55,020 --> 00:40:58,020
Appalled by what he called
the "iron tramp of progress",
582
00:40:58,020 --> 00:41:01,700
Thomas Cole conceived of
a series of paintings
583
00:41:01,700 --> 00:41:04,580
that would be unlike
anything he'd done before.
584
00:41:04,580 --> 00:41:09,660
One that would deliver a powerful
message to modern America.
585
00:41:14,540 --> 00:41:17,780
Cole called his series
The Course Of Empire.
586
00:41:17,780 --> 00:41:20,100
Five hugely ambitious paintings,
587
00:41:20,100 --> 00:41:22,940
preserved by
the New York Historical Society,
588
00:41:22,940 --> 00:41:27,780
that appear to chart the
rise and fall of Roman civilisation.
589
00:41:30,580 --> 00:41:33,540
But I think if you go through it
frame by frame,
590
00:41:33,540 --> 00:41:36,860
looking at it in detail,
I think what you realise is
591
00:41:36,860 --> 00:41:38,540
that Cole's real subject
592
00:41:38,540 --> 00:41:41,340
is not the decline and fall
of Ancient Rome.
593
00:41:41,340 --> 00:41:43,620
What's really on his mind
594
00:41:43,620 --> 00:41:47,260
is the history
and the destiny of America,
595
00:41:47,260 --> 00:41:50,900
and there are little clues
to that in all of these pictures.
596
00:41:53,540 --> 00:41:56,140
The first scene shows
a primitive world.
597
00:41:58,660 --> 00:42:01,780
There are hunters
armed only with spears.
598
00:42:04,020 --> 00:42:08,340
And in the distance, a group of
figures are dancing around a fire.
599
00:42:09,540 --> 00:42:12,620
But don't those tents look exactly
like Native American wigwams?
600
00:42:17,060 --> 00:42:19,780
The next picture shows
the same view,
601
00:42:19,780 --> 00:42:23,620
but now time has moved forward
to an early civilisation.
602
00:42:23,620 --> 00:42:28,100
A woman is spinning,
the beginnings of manufacture.
603
00:42:28,100 --> 00:42:31,140
A greybeard is scratching
a symbol in the dirt.
604
00:42:31,140 --> 00:42:34,180
The origins of science.
605
00:42:34,180 --> 00:42:38,820
And in the distance,
a Stonehenge-like structure,
606
00:42:38,820 --> 00:42:40,620
the birth of architecture.
607
00:42:43,300 --> 00:42:46,180
But does Cole see
the advent of civilisation
608
00:42:46,180 --> 00:42:50,100
and human progress
as an entirely good thing?
609
00:42:50,100 --> 00:42:56,460
Well, there's a strong sign that he
doesn't, because this detail here,
610
00:42:56,460 --> 00:43:00,140
the stump of an axe-felled tree,
611
00:43:00,140 --> 00:43:02,540
was one of
his great personal symbols.
612
00:43:02,540 --> 00:43:04,860
He included it in a lot
of his pictures.
613
00:43:04,860 --> 00:43:08,700
And what it stands for is
the rape of nature by man.
614
00:43:08,700 --> 00:43:12,940
It's his way of saying that progress
comes at a great cost.
615
00:43:18,660 --> 00:43:21,900
I think the whole series is shot
through the strong sense
616
00:43:21,900 --> 00:43:25,980
of Cole's own bitterness,
anger, and irony
617
00:43:25,980 --> 00:43:31,220
because here, he's depicted
the supposed zenith of civilisation,
618
00:43:31,220 --> 00:43:34,460
and yet he sees it, he conceives it,
619
00:43:34,460 --> 00:43:38,860
as a scene of decadence, corruption,
620
00:43:38,860 --> 00:43:41,980
empty triumphalism.
621
00:43:47,780 --> 00:43:51,260
At the head of a great procession
sits an emperor.
622
00:43:51,260 --> 00:43:55,420
But he's a parody of the
then-president, Andrew Jackson,
623
00:43:55,420 --> 00:43:59,860
who was satirised in the press
as an American Caesar.
624
00:43:59,860 --> 00:44:02,780
The ruler of a "mobocracy",
625
00:44:02,780 --> 00:44:06,580
where everyone was chasing wealth
and power.
626
00:44:06,580 --> 00:44:09,020
And look at the architecture,
627
00:44:09,020 --> 00:44:14,740
teeming with people, like a kind
of infestation of humanity.
628
00:44:14,740 --> 00:44:18,020
Yes, it's Ancient Rome,
but I think it's meant to be
629
00:44:18,020 --> 00:44:20,060
a conflation of the banks
of New York
630
00:44:20,060 --> 00:44:22,620
and the government buildings
of Washington,
631
00:44:22,620 --> 00:44:28,540
even a bizarre prophecy
of...modern Las Vegas.
632
00:44:28,540 --> 00:44:33,780
This is a world
that symbolises the greed
633
00:44:33,780 --> 00:44:37,860
that Cole saw eating away
at the heart of America.
634
00:44:42,740 --> 00:44:46,780
Cole called the penultimate picture
Destruction.
635
00:44:46,780 --> 00:44:50,660
Rome, it appears, is being
overrun by barbarian hordes.
636
00:44:52,260 --> 00:44:54,940
There are scenes of chaos
and terror,
637
00:44:54,940 --> 00:44:57,540
a cast of thousands,
638
00:44:57,540 --> 00:45:01,620
as a city of marble and stone
is tragically laid waste.
639
00:45:03,660 --> 00:45:06,340
When I think of it
in terms of what I believe
640
00:45:06,340 --> 00:45:07,980
this series is all about,
641
00:45:07,980 --> 00:45:12,020
an allegory
of American civilisation,
642
00:45:12,020 --> 00:45:17,300
I see it as a flourishing fantasy,
a kind of dream
643
00:45:17,300 --> 00:45:23,780
of America itself being swept clean
of civilisation and all its ills.
644
00:45:23,780 --> 00:45:27,020
That the land
will be made pure again.
645
00:45:27,020 --> 00:45:29,660
And if you come to
the last picture of all...
646
00:45:31,140 --> 00:45:33,540
..Desolation, he called it,
647
00:45:33,540 --> 00:45:35,860
again, I think it's a painting
648
00:45:35,860 --> 00:45:39,020
that almost defeats
your expectations
649
00:45:39,020 --> 00:45:43,300
because it's supposed to represent
the aftermath of civilisation.
650
00:45:43,300 --> 00:45:46,540
You might think of it
as a deeply melancholic image,
651
00:45:46,540 --> 00:45:51,380
but for Cole, I think, this
is the true climax of the series.
652
00:45:51,380 --> 00:45:54,340
This is the moment he yearns for,
653
00:45:54,340 --> 00:45:57,900
the moment when civilisation
will have disappeared
654
00:45:57,900 --> 00:46:03,780
and nature - nature - will
once again have reclaimed this land.
655
00:46:03,780 --> 00:46:05,580
That's Cole's fantasy.
656
00:46:13,220 --> 00:46:17,420
Within a generation, America
would in fact tear itself apart,
657
00:46:17,420 --> 00:46:19,820
although not in the way Cole
had imagined.
658
00:46:30,580 --> 00:46:32,660
Slavery in the South,
659
00:46:32,660 --> 00:46:36,460
a long-festering wound
at the heart of the American nation,
660
00:46:36,460 --> 00:46:38,060
would be the cause.
661
00:46:42,380 --> 00:46:43,660
Since independence,
662
00:46:43,660 --> 00:46:46,580
the increasingly industrialised
states in the North
663
00:46:46,580 --> 00:46:48,980
had gradually abolished slavery.
664
00:46:48,980 --> 00:46:50,740
But the Southern states,
665
00:46:50,740 --> 00:46:55,620
with their labour-intensive cotton
and tobacco plantations, would not.
666
00:47:06,340 --> 00:47:10,580
By 1860, the United States was,
said President Abraham Lincoln,
667
00:47:10,580 --> 00:47:12,820
"a house divided".
668
00:47:14,620 --> 00:47:17,340
The following year,
the division became total.
669
00:47:17,340 --> 00:47:20,940
11 Southern states
formed the Confederacy
670
00:47:20,940 --> 00:47:23,420
and in April 1861,
671
00:47:23,420 --> 00:47:26,460
the first shots were fired
in the American Civil War.
672
00:47:38,980 --> 00:47:41,340
It was the new medium of photography
673
00:47:41,340 --> 00:47:45,740
that produced the most compelling
images of the Civil War.
674
00:47:54,020 --> 00:47:57,340
Most famous of the photographers
was Mathew Brady
675
00:47:57,340 --> 00:48:00,180
who, together with his own team
of cameramen,
676
00:48:00,180 --> 00:48:03,420
covered almost all
the major events of the war.
677
00:48:08,340 --> 00:48:12,980
The Civil War claimed
over 600,000 lives -
678
00:48:12,980 --> 00:48:16,620
greater than the American death toll
of both World Wars combined.
679
00:48:17,820 --> 00:48:19,980
In 1865, the South surrendered.
680
00:48:21,300 --> 00:48:24,340
Officially,
the country was at last united.
681
00:48:36,540 --> 00:48:38,780
But the lingering hurt
and bitterness of war
682
00:48:38,780 --> 00:48:41,660
could still be glimpsed
through American art.
683
00:48:43,100 --> 00:48:47,300
Though not an art
you're likely to find in a gallery.
684
00:48:47,300 --> 00:48:50,820
This warehouse outside Philadelphia
685
00:48:50,820 --> 00:48:54,580
houses an impressive collection
of antique American flags.
686
00:48:56,580 --> 00:48:59,500
So this is where we do
all of our restoration.
687
00:48:59,500 --> 00:49:04,700
And we see ones here
in various stages of mounting.
688
00:49:04,700 --> 00:49:07,100
Jeff Bridgman,
who collects these flags,
689
00:49:07,100 --> 00:49:09,220
believes that if you know
how to read them,
690
00:49:09,220 --> 00:49:10,700
you can follow the threads
691
00:49:10,700 --> 00:49:14,300
of America's long and complex
struggle for identity.
692
00:49:16,940 --> 00:49:20,580
What's the basic symbolism
of the American flag?
693
00:49:20,580 --> 00:49:23,660
Well, originally there were 13 stars
694
00:49:23,660 --> 00:49:27,940
in the form of a new constellation,
and 13 stripes.
695
00:49:27,940 --> 00:49:32,780
And both of those counts reflect
the number of original colonies.
696
00:49:32,780 --> 00:49:37,260
So the stars say that, instead
of being separate colonies,
697
00:49:37,260 --> 00:49:39,900
we are now a single constellation.
Yes,
698
00:49:39,900 --> 00:49:45,220
and when it said a new constellation,
they never specified
699
00:49:45,220 --> 00:49:48,420
what that constellation
was supposed to be.
700
00:49:48,420 --> 00:49:50,300
This is a great example here,
701
00:49:50,300 --> 00:49:54,540
where the stars are arranged
in the form of one big star.
702
00:49:54,540 --> 00:49:57,140
So during the early years
of American flag design,
703
00:49:57,140 --> 00:50:00,220
you can kind of freeform it with
the stars. Anything goes. Yes.
704
00:50:00,220 --> 00:50:02,860
It's a very American individualism.
It is, yeah.
705
00:50:02,860 --> 00:50:06,060
Have you got any other examples
where you can look at a flag
706
00:50:06,060 --> 00:50:08,540
and it tells you about
a moment in history?
707
00:50:08,540 --> 00:50:12,420
Yeah, particularly
surrounding the Civil War.
I have a good example here,
708
00:50:12,420 --> 00:50:16,460
where the maker has done something
that Abraham Lincoln said
709
00:50:16,460 --> 00:50:18,100
specifically not to do,
710
00:50:18,100 --> 00:50:22,180
which was to remove the Southern
states from the flag during the war.
711
00:50:22,180 --> 00:50:25,620
So you're saying Lincoln
has explicitly instructed
712
00:50:25,620 --> 00:50:28,460
people in the North
not to remove the Southern states,
713
00:50:28,460 --> 00:50:31,860
but some Northern patriot or other
has done exactly that?
714
00:50:31,860 --> 00:50:33,060
Yes. Yeah.
715
00:50:33,060 --> 00:50:37,380
And this is what we call
a Southern-exclusionary star count.
716
00:50:37,380 --> 00:50:39,180
The Green Mountain Boys
717
00:50:39,180 --> 00:50:42,940
was a nickname for
the Vermont military unit,
718
00:50:42,940 --> 00:50:44,940
and they removed
the Southern states.
719
00:50:44,940 --> 00:50:49,620
There's only 20 stars here.
There ought to be 34, 35
720
00:50:49,620 --> 00:50:53,220
or if it was at the tail-end
of the war, 36 stars.
721
00:50:53,220 --> 00:50:58,300
So this object, it seems
that somebody is registering
722
00:50:58,300 --> 00:51:01,420
perhaps loss,
certainly a degree of outrage...
723
00:51:01,420 --> 00:51:03,620
Yes. ..against the South.
724
00:51:03,620 --> 00:51:06,820
Maybe the woman that was
most vocal about making this
725
00:51:06,820 --> 00:51:09,700
had lost a son to the South already
726
00:51:09,700 --> 00:51:13,140
and she has said,
"No, those guys are out.
727
00:51:13,140 --> 00:51:16,820
"I'm not going to include those
stars in the flag when I make it."
728
00:51:16,820 --> 00:51:20,260
So this is done actually bang
in the middle of the conflict? Yes.
729
00:51:20,260 --> 00:51:23,740
This is actually
the war itself in a flag.
730
00:51:23,740 --> 00:51:26,740
What about the other side
of that political divide?
731
00:51:26,740 --> 00:51:32,580
Sure. This is a rather
interesting flag,
732
00:51:32,580 --> 00:51:35,500
where the stars are configured
733
00:51:35,500 --> 00:51:41,220
in the Southern Cross, which is
buried in the design of this flag
734
00:51:41,220 --> 00:51:45,740
and that was sort of a subtle way
of displaying Southern sympathies.
735
00:51:45,740 --> 00:51:50,740
And they are doing that through
that shape, which is...
736
00:51:50,740 --> 00:51:53,580
A display of the Southern Cross
within the design.
737
00:51:53,580 --> 00:51:57,220
And when you say the Southern Cross,
that's what you're talking about,
738
00:51:57,220 --> 00:52:01,500
so it's a way of getting that flag
into this flag.
739
00:52:01,500 --> 00:52:05,180
Hiding the Confederate battle flag
within the Stars And Stripes.
Amazing.
740
00:52:05,180 --> 00:52:08,900
When was this flag made?
This was made after the Civil War.
741
00:52:08,900 --> 00:52:14,300
So someone somewhere in the South
wants to brandish against
742
00:52:14,300 --> 00:52:17,820
the victorious Northerners their
sense of Southern independence.
743
00:52:17,820 --> 00:52:20,380
You may have beaten us
but we still feel Southerners,
744
00:52:20,380 --> 00:52:22,380
still don't feel part of you.
Precisely.
745
00:52:22,380 --> 00:52:24,140
I think it's fascinating.
746
00:52:24,140 --> 00:52:27,300
The violence of the conflict
still seems to be imbedded in it,
747
00:52:27,300 --> 00:52:29,940
as if the shells are still
going off in the sky somehow.
748
00:52:29,940 --> 00:52:32,540
It's got a kind of violence
about it. A defiance.
749
00:52:32,540 --> 00:52:33,540
Yeah. Yeah.
750
00:52:33,540 --> 00:52:34,980
It's almost like the rebel yell.
751
00:52:44,140 --> 00:52:46,100
Yet the scars of war DID heal.
752
00:52:46,100 --> 00:52:50,620
The states were now not only united,
but growing ever more rapidly.
753
00:52:53,260 --> 00:52:56,940
Successive waves
of industrialists and prospectors
754
00:52:56,940 --> 00:53:00,660
eagerly exploited the country's
wealth of natural resources.
755
00:53:05,900 --> 00:53:11,980
In 1869, construction
of the first transcontinental
railway was completed,
756
00:53:11,980 --> 00:53:15,180
opening the way for the
commercial unification of America.
757
00:53:19,180 --> 00:53:20,700
Within 20 years,
758
00:53:20,700 --> 00:53:24,460
the Western frontier had reached
its furthest possible point -
759
00:53:24,460 --> 00:53:29,740
the Pacific Ocean -
and was declared officially closed.
760
00:53:29,740 --> 00:53:34,220
This was the moment
when the West was finally won.
761
00:53:34,220 --> 00:53:39,180
The first chapter in the history of
modern America was coming to an end.
762
00:53:44,580 --> 00:53:48,300
Until now, artists such as Audubon,
Catlin and Cole,
763
00:53:48,300 --> 00:53:51,580
those who had protested
against the implacable expansion
764
00:53:51,580 --> 00:53:54,220
of industrial, urban America,
765
00:53:54,220 --> 00:53:56,460
were unheeded voices
in the wilderness.
766
00:53:59,100 --> 00:54:01,700
Yet American art
did have the power to stop
767
00:54:01,700 --> 00:54:04,100
the juggernaut in its tracks.
768
00:54:04,100 --> 00:54:07,660
Or at least to give those driving it
pause for thought.
769
00:54:10,660 --> 00:54:13,540
In the summer of 1871,
770
00:54:13,540 --> 00:54:16,180
a government-funded
geological expedition
771
00:54:16,180 --> 00:54:19,580
set off into the Yellowstone region
of the northwest United States.
772
00:54:22,780 --> 00:54:27,060
The group included a photographer,
William Henry Jackson,
773
00:54:27,060 --> 00:54:29,900
and a young landscape painter,
Thomas Moran.
774
00:54:34,060 --> 00:54:36,460
The point of the expedition
was to survey the land
775
00:54:36,460 --> 00:54:39,500
for potential commercial
development.
776
00:54:41,420 --> 00:54:44,660
But Jackson's photographs
and Moran's watercolours
777
00:54:44,660 --> 00:54:46,780
had an entirely unexpected outcome.
778
00:54:47,860 --> 00:54:51,500
Congressmen in Washington were so
impressed by the spectacular images
779
00:54:51,500 --> 00:54:56,380
that they passed a bill
designating the Yellowstone region
780
00:54:56,380 --> 00:54:58,540
America's first National Park.
781
00:55:00,660 --> 00:55:04,060
This particular corner of America,
at least,
782
00:55:04,060 --> 00:55:07,540
would be preserved unspoilt
for future generations.
783
00:55:10,700 --> 00:55:14,940
Thomas Moran's painting of the
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
784
00:55:14,940 --> 00:55:19,140
is one of the most
exultantly monumental depictions
785
00:55:19,140 --> 00:55:24,020
of vast, sublime,
wild American nature,
786
00:55:24,020 --> 00:55:26,940
and yet I think it also
marks the moment
787
00:55:26,940 --> 00:55:31,900
when the wilderness
has ceased to seem truly wild,
788
00:55:31,900 --> 00:55:35,300
the moment when Americans feel
789
00:55:35,300 --> 00:55:40,500
they have finally become the
landlords of their own vast country.
790
00:55:42,300 --> 00:55:46,780
Look at the way the artist
has framed and contained the scene,
791
00:55:46,780 --> 00:55:51,700
look at the way he's turned it
into a picturesque view.
792
00:55:53,260 --> 00:56:00,340
He's even given us a kind of
platform on which safely to stand
793
00:56:00,340 --> 00:56:03,020
as we contemplate
this vast panorama.
794
00:56:03,020 --> 00:56:09,100
I can almost imagine a modern
tourist bus park on this spot,
795
00:56:09,100 --> 00:56:12,700
disgorging people out
to enjoy the landscape.
796
00:56:14,340 --> 00:56:18,420
And when I look at this, I think
what a huge distance we've travelled
797
00:56:18,420 --> 00:56:20,420
in the American attitude to nature.
798
00:56:20,420 --> 00:56:25,140
Think all the way back to John
White, Shakespeare's contemporary,
799
00:56:25,140 --> 00:56:30,380
arriving in America
and finding it a hostile, dangerous,
800
00:56:30,380 --> 00:56:38,380
unsettling place, peopled by
Calibans, an island full of noises.
801
00:56:38,380 --> 00:56:43,220
That sense of a vast, mysterious,
dangerous place
802
00:56:43,220 --> 00:56:46,060
has completely evaporated
in this picture.
803
00:56:46,060 --> 00:56:50,220
All the elements of what once seemed
so dangerous are there.
804
00:56:50,220 --> 00:56:53,540
The torrential waterfall,
the raging torrent...
805
00:56:56,420 --> 00:57:00,500
..but they're just elements
in a beautiful view.
806
00:57:00,500 --> 00:57:05,340
There's the Indian. He's no longer
a foe but he's a friendly guide.
807
00:57:05,340 --> 00:57:10,020
And in its representation
of a wilderness made tame,
808
00:57:10,020 --> 00:57:12,500
I think Moran's picture is also
809
00:57:12,500 --> 00:57:14,940
a distillation
of the fundamental paradox
810
00:57:14,940 --> 00:57:19,060
that lies behind the creation of
the Yellowstone as a National Park,
811
00:57:19,060 --> 00:57:22,260
because, after all,
once a fragment of wilderness
812
00:57:22,260 --> 00:57:24,460
has been designated a park,
813
00:57:24,460 --> 00:57:28,220
it can't truly be said
to be wilderness any longer.
814
00:57:28,220 --> 00:57:33,900
And I wonder if Moran didn't include
a small note of unease
815
00:57:33,900 --> 00:57:36,140
in the form of this detail,
816
00:57:36,140 --> 00:57:39,100
this slightly troubling detail in
the foreground -
817
00:57:39,100 --> 00:57:43,300
it's the carcass of a deer,
placed just above his signature.
818
00:57:44,740 --> 00:57:48,780
It reminds me of Thomas Cole's
axe-felled tree stump,
819
00:57:48,780 --> 00:57:54,980
it's evidence of the handiwork
of man, it's the emblem of a death.
820
00:57:54,980 --> 00:57:58,180
It's an intriguing memento mori
821
00:57:58,180 --> 00:58:00,740
and perhaps an emblem
of Moran's own awareness
822
00:58:00,740 --> 00:58:03,660
that the birth of the park
823
00:58:03,660 --> 00:58:08,500
also marked the death
of truly wild nature.
824
00:58:29,020 --> 00:58:31,500
Subtitles by Red Bee Media
825
00:58:31,500 --> 00:58:34,300
E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk
70794
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