A New Years Wish From South Coast Antiques in D'Iberville, MS

Wishing Everyone a very prosperous and joy filled New Year!

A Photographic Veterans Day Memorial from South Coast Antiques, Ocean Springs, MS

My last post was about the great time that I had a couple of weeks back at the Fall Muster at Beauvoir, over in Biloxi.  I took a lot of images and did some nice art photography.  One of the images I did was basically a put together from four different images that I took at Beauvoir.  The image shows a soldier kneeling before the body of his fallen comrade. I did two versions of this image one in full color  and it is called "The ultimate Sorrow"

and one that is Black and white sepia toned and using a hand colored look muted filter to give it an antique look. I call it "The Ultimate Price"

 These two images basically say it all for me when it comes to all wars past present and future.  I just can not imagine the unbearable sorrow of seeing your best friend cut down in the prime of their life in front of you and not being able to prevent it. The total sorrow of it overwhelms my mind.  Loosing ones life is sad, yes indeed, but having your best buddy taken out in front of you....now that would be truly the ultimate pain for a soldier.

This veterans day take the time to think about your loved ones that served and some of the things they have had to go through.  Not everyone in the military experiences hurt to the level of having lost there best friend in battle, but many loose so much in so many other ways. So take the time and tell a Veteran or his family that you care. It is not important whether or not one is pro or con towards war and the military. You must always remember that a lot of what we as Americans cherish the most about our country was given to us by none other than the most humble of soldiers, because they were willing to go out and pay that ultimate price for love of our country

Beauvoir, the Home of Jefferson Davis and the Fall Muster

Click here to view all my images of the 2013 Fall Muster at Photobucket

 

To begin with, reenacting is not about politics.  It is about American history and portraying the average person from that period.


Two weekends back, on the 19th and 20th of October, the 27th annual Fall Muster was held over in near by Biloxi, Mississippi.  The Fall Muster was as usual at "Beauvoir" The last home of Jefferson Davis, located at 2244 Beach Blvd (highway 90).

The Fall Muster is a historical reenactment that allows the people of today a chance to see and experience a bit of what it was like in the mid Victorian period.  Specifically the period 1861-1865 during the great War Between the States or the Civil War as it is mostly commonly referred to now.  One may look at the Fall Muster (or any other reenactment) as an educational opportunity to surround one's self with a lavishly rich cavalcade of living history.

People come from all over the United States to participate in these events.  Contrary to what I think is a popular belief, These reenactments are not an affectation of the "Deep South", but were originally conceived and produced in the more northern states.  Specifically in the New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia areas.  The earliest of these groups that I know of was the North. South Skirmish Association. This group was founded around 1950.

The people involved in doing these events today are from every walk of life imaginable. They are doctors, lawyers, educators, construction workers, store clerks, students, and even greeters at your local Wally World.  They are men,women,youths,and children of all ages.  It does not matter who you are or where one is from, everyone can play an historical part in the fall muster if they have a desire.

Most of the participants come to these reenactments as well trained and researched historical actors.  There are of course the newbies that are unseasoned and still a bit stage shy about what to do, of course, but this is a learn as one goes type of thing.  These people have spent many years working and studying the history of this time period as well as learning the now archaic military standards of dress, order and movement as practiced during this era.

Besides the massive amount of time learning and studying every aspect of life during these turbulent years of American history, these people spend considerable amounts of cold hard cash.  It is not an inexpensive affair assembling a circa 1860's impression for either a correctly dressed man or woman.  Almost all clothing has to be custom created. Some items may be bought off the rack either at an event, as sold by sutlers or ordered offline, take a look at some of the prices at online historical reenactors sites, for the most part they can tend to be a bit pricey in my opinion.  If one is lucky they can find items that are being sold by other reenactors that are pre owned.  However you goes about it, once one starts to buy the basic clothing necessary for ones impression, it starts getting expensive very rapidly.  Also many reenactors have  two full outfits ready to do an impression of either a Northern soldier or a Southern soldier.  Yes, that is correct two full sets of clothing one for the Union soldier and one for the Confederate!  Because they may end up at an event where there are to many of one side and they will be needed to do an impression on the other side to keep things balance out so to speak.  The average person ends up spending a fairly considerable sum of money in the end, so this activity is really not for those that are faint of spending the moola

I myself have always had a love of costuming or as many to day refer to it as Cosplay.  Some younger people may think that cosplay is only dressing up as your current favorite anime character, but in fact historical reenacting is truly cosplay also, just think about it. It is all the same thing, dressing up in a costume and giving an impression of a character from a different world than the one that you are currently dwelling.

Many of the people that one sees that are participating in these events are with their families and spend the weekend dressing and living as many did with their families back during the Civil War era.  For many of these people there is just nothing to match the fun and just flat out camaraderie that can be encountered during these encampments.  This is such a wonderful, wholesome, truly American family activity.

Well, on with the story.

Due to one thing and another, I have not been able to attend the Fall Muster for the last couple of years.  This year I was able to have a free day and go on Sunday.  It had rained on Saturday so a number of the reenactors had left.  So, on Sunday when I went there were fewer people involved than during the previous times I attended.

After the wet Saturday the reenactors that remained were in very good form and were ready for getting on with the show!

All I can say is that Sunday the 20th was a beautiful day. Warm with a light cool breeze and oh, so, very sunny.  This all added together to create one of the most perfect of Gulf Coast days!

Upon arrival at Beauvoir,  I went all around the camp doing some basic photography. I was looking for those perfect little vignettes that can so easily appear to be moments stolen from time.  I was lucky and was able to capture a few images that I thought were especially worthwhile.  I took a few of the more compelling images and did digital photo manipulation on them until I was able to artistically render to them into what I saw in my mind.

 I love doing my ceramic art pottery, but I also love doing digital art!

I then took a break for a quick and yummy Beauvoir burger and some chips.

Then I went on to capture some pre skirmish moments and then the actual battle reenactment.  The over all conflict was very well staged, especially considering that there were not a great number of soldiers on the field, due to the ones that had been forced to leave because of the poor weather.  They created a fairly realistic impression of what it would have been like during such a  military encounter.

I have to say that at the end of the military engagement there is one thing that happens that effects me so very much.  A specified person comes out and yells loudly, "resurrect"!  After which all the fallen soldier arise from the field and join there fellow soldiers!  If only this could happen after the real wars were fought!

I would like to thank all the people that helped make the 27th Fall Muster at Beauvoir come together.

The people of Beauvoir

The Chairman
Richard V. Forte, Sr.

The good people on the Board of Directors and Board of Trustees.

All the vendors and assorted sutlers.

And most of all.  Every single person that came and did their Civil War impressions!

You all did a wonderful job and I hope to see you next time!

Plus a special thanks and a tip of the hat to the people that ended up in my photographs.

If you see an image of yourself or your unit and you would like to be identified please let me know and I will gladly add name, unit, or web info to the images!  One may also leave the information in the comments section and I will add it upon seeing it there.

Also, if for any reason you do not want an image that I have taken of you displayed on the internet,  please feel free to contact me and I will have it removed post haste!

Please contact me if you have any further questions.

William Spratling: A Southern Artist and an Arts and Crafts Revival in Mexican Jewelry

When I say south, I mean waaaay south:  Alabama, Georgia, New Orleans, and finally Mexico City & Taxco.  Most people think of a svelte, urbane jewelry designer with powerful connections to the northeast art and jewelery markets when they look at Spratling jewelry and his designs, but nothing could be farther from the truth. 

classic early jewelry of the jewelry renaissance in Taxco

William Spratling was born in New York State but moved to Alabama to be with his grandfather and later to Atlanta.  Eventually he became an architect and associate professor at Auburn and later at Tulane University in New Orleans.  While in New Orleans he became involved with the Arts and Crafts Club of New Orleans.  He also published a folio of New Orleans architecture in 1923, printed by Tulane University.He also shared a house with William Faulkner in the French Quarter and collaborated with him, writing a book about famous Creoles.  You just can't get more deep south than that.

Spratling was invited to teach some course at the Mexico State National University in 1927-1928 on Spanish Colonial architecture.  He liked Mexico so well, he remained there with the intellectual and artistic community that had also gravitated to Mexico City.  He later moved to Taxco and began to design his unique jewelry starting in 1931.  As an architect and artist, he brought new life to Mexican jewelry, producing not only silver items but those in copper an other materials as well as overseeing production of tinware, furniture, textiles, weavings, and other things of interest at his workshop. 

Other artists of note in Mexico City were Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington, Diego Rivera, Manuel Alvarez Bravo just to name a few.  Terrible things were afoot in the countryside with the massacre of clerics by the government of strongman Plutarco Calles.  Leon Trotsky lived and was assisinated in Mexico City – a kind of Casablanca of refugees, artists and desperate people with a cruel government still smoldering from revolution.  All you needed was Rick's Café Américain  and the strains of “As Time Goes By” to set the mood.  Between 1933 and 1945, Mexico accepted Jewish refugees from Europe as well as Spanish refugees from the Spanish Civil War, even Armenians came as well as many others.  Mexico City had become a boiling caldron rather than a melting pot.  Along with the overcrowding and misery, an artistic explosion came from that ancient capital of the Aztecs, who were no strangers to war and strife themselves.  

All that stage setting being said, the subject at hand is a William Spratling necklace in the arts and crafts tradition of early Spratling jewelry with Artemio Navarrete's mark.  On early jewelry, Spratling purposely left some of the file work showing, soldering not ground away smoothly, and a tool marks to appear on the piece such as hammer blows on the inside.  Later Spratling workshop in the late 30s and through the 40s, pieces were more highly polished and the beautiful irregularities of hand-work was smoothed away for a more mass-production look consistent with demand of post-war silver smiths.  Not so with this work, all the labor and care is to be seen by the perceptive collector’s eye.  Later in the 1940s he began to receive contracts for jewelry and it had to be consistent, shiny, and less arts and crafts for the "smart set" buyers in the United States.

This piece is made up of dapped hemispheres, soldered with wire rinks and flat backers.  The two turkey vultures are made free form and with individualistic stamping.  It is finished up with a hand-made chain with a wire hook fastener.   This piece shows variations consistent with individually crafted jewelry   This early period of Spratling jewelry shows traditional Mexican silver making techniques as Spratling employed Mexican silver smiths early on, starting with Artemio Navarrete as his first worker in 1931 who made the first pieces for on Spratling's dining room table with the tools and expertise that he brought from Iguala.  Later Spratling opened a workship added more masters (I will make a later post about them), who then had their apprentices who learning the craft, and perpetuating the art at Taller de Delicias.  Eventually, his workshops employed hundreds of silversmiths, masters, and apprentices all under the watchful eye of William Spratling the designer and architect of his realm.

Of interest on this piece, are the bells which are the traditional casabeles used in early Mexican silverwork with hand sawed openings, typically seen on Spratling pieces.  File and saw marks can be clearly seen on this work, the backers on the hemispheres are clearly made of fine nearly pure platero sheet silver, rolled in-house from ingots purchased directly from Taxco silver mines.  He also probably made his own silver wire at with the same shop.  This is a quite early piece and interestingly with the stamp of maestro Artemio Navarrete, who had been a master gold and silver jeweler in nearby Iguala, about 10 miles down the road who joined Spratling and started the workshop in June of 1931. 

There is a story in circulation that this necklace was inspired by a piece of Aztec descended Náhuatl Indian pottery owned by the American ambassador, Dwight Morrow (1927-1930) in Mexico City.  I have not seen the piece mentioned, but if that is true then the two turkey buzzards (Cozcacuauhtli), which figure into the Aztec religion and calendar, are tearing out the heart of the sun as per Aztec myth but this is just conjecture on my part.  Spratling was to exposed to as well as collected and sold, pre-conquest art as well as colonial and indigenous Indian contemporary art. Spratling was a keen observer of art and architecture throughout Mexico and spanning the whole history of the region so it was not a surprise that he turned to traditional regional designs. 

note Armenio Navarrete mark

I’ve had this piece for about 35 years and every time I take it out, I see new, nuanced things about the Arts and Crafts movement, Mexican craftsmanship, and jeweler's techniques in the early phase of Spratling Jewelry.  I had amassed this information and just wanted to share it with the blogging public, so you can enjoy the mélange of art, history, and craftsmanship of a by-gone period of history and know a bit more about the inspiration, genius and drive of William Spratling.

For reference on a similar piece, see Spratling Silver: A Field Guide by Phyllis Goddard, figure 2-32, page 35.  See also figure 2-162, page 57 and the associated website  http://www.spratlingsilver.com

Additional links of interest on Mexico and Mexican art and politics of the 20-30s

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_art

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_muralism

http://clas.berkeley.edu/research/mexico-radicals-revolutionaries-and-exiles-mexico-city-1920s

https://www.google.com/search?q=1930%20mexico%20city%20intellectuals&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=np&source=hp 

 

Arts and Crafts in New Orleans Video http://knowla.org/video/28/