Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Wednesday 27 February 2019
Cyclorama to be unveiled again amid diverging views of past

By JEFF MARTIN Military Park in Pennsylva-
Associated Press nia.
ATLANTA (AP) — At a time THE IMMIGRANT ARTISTS
when counties, cities and Among the exhibits open-
states across the South are ing Friday is one about the
removing or covering up immigrant painters — most-
Confederate monuments, ly German — who battled
one of the world's largest sea sickness on the steam-
paintings of the American ship that brought them to
Civil War will reopen to the New York.
public Friday. To make their scenes as au-
But the artwork was never thentic as possible, some of
intended to celebrate the the painters visited battle-
Confederacy, historians fields and met with Civil War
say. soldiers in retirement homes
Atlanta's Cyclorama de- before creating their cyclo-
picts charging horses, ramas in Milwaukee.
wounded soldiers, cannon Michael Kutzer, a painter
blasts and smoke on a Civil and historian who speaks
War battlefield in Atlanta German, has been working
as Union troops defeated in Wisconsin to decipher
Confederate forces and the hand-written diaries of
then torched much of the In this Friday, Feb 15, 2019 photo, a worker puts some final touches on the diorama that is part of artist Friedrich Wilhelm He-
city. the Atlanta Cyclorama display at the Atlanta History Center on Friday, Feb 15, 2019, in Atlanta. ine, who supervised the cy-
The painting also takes Associated Press clorama painters in Milwau-
viewers into another, more kee. That has helped shed
personal battlefield in the DIVERGING VIEWS OF HIS- the symbol still used on po- painting to its original intent light on who they were and
mind's eye, this one involv- TORY lice cars and city buildings in 1886, and it was intended their impressions of the Unit-
ing memory, facts, fiction, The painting was created today. as an illusion, it was intend- ed States after arriving from
propaganda and romanti- about 22 years after the "The more you learn about ed as mass entertainment," Europe.
cized portrayals of history, Battle of Atlanta had oc- this painting, the more Jones said. "Nobody has THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT
historians say. curred in 1864. It debuted remarkable is the story," seen this painting the way The new exhibit opening
The German immigrants in Minneapolis in 1886. Jones said. "And the story it was originally intended to Friday also includes early
who painted it at the Amer- When the artwork was re- is definitely one of an arti- be seen in 1886." sketches of cycloramas,
ican Panorama Company located to Atlanta in 1892, fact that changes mean- ONE OF THE WORLD'S LARG- advertisements, and audio
in Milwaukee were creat- Confederate sympathizers ing over time, depending EST PAINTINGS of the tours given from ear-
ing the work for a northern focused on the valor and on how you look at it." The 360-degree painting lier eras. Military artifacts
audience to celebrate a bravery displayed by their IMAX MOVIES OF THEIR DAY is longer than a football include a wooden chest
northern victory in the Bat- side, said Gordon Jones, Before Hollywood movies, field at 371 feet (113 me- used by Union General
tle of Atlanta. senior military curator at the cycloramas such as the ters); and is nearly 50 feet James McPherson, who
"So when people are con- history center. It was adver- "Battle of Atlanta" were (15 meters) high. It weighs died in the Battle of Atlan-
cerned about Confeder- tised in Atlanta as "the only considered the virtual real- 10,000 pounds (4,500 kilo- ta.
ate monuments — those Confederate victory ever ity of their day. grams). Actors who play charac-
who want to hug them and painted." "It's intended to surround When it goes on display ters from history will also
those who want to tear "It's one of the greatest you, to be this sort of vir- again Friday, "The Battle provide context, Hale said.
them down — they're both pieces of spin that's ever tual reality time machine," of Atlanta" will join only a They include Paul Atkinson,
going to be surprised to find been put on an artifact," Jones said. handful of giant cycloram- the Georgia entertainment
out it's not one," said Shef- Jones said. After they were painted in as remaining worldwide. promoter who brought the
field Hale, president and Though the painting de- cities such as Milwaukee Another notable U.S. cyclo- painting to Atlanta, who
CEO of the Atlanta History picts a northern victory, and Chicago, cycloramas rama, "The Battle of Get- explains how he interpret-
Center. "And that's when southerners saw in the were rolled up and hauled tysburg," can be viewed ed the artwork for southern
you have the opportunity painting an Atlanta rising by train around the country. at the Gettysburg National audiences.q
for insight and learning." like the mythical phoenix — People in various cities then
paid admission to walk into
specially built round build-
ings to view them.
The Atlanta History Center
built the massive Lloyd and
Mary Ann Whitaker Cyclo-
rama Building to display
the painting. Inside is a 15-
foot (4.6-meter) platform,
allowing visitors to view the
horizon at eye level, with
a massive blue sky above
and the battle unfolding
beneath them. A canopy
covers the observation In this Friday, Feb 15, 2019 photo, Gordon Jones, senior military
In this Friday, Feb 15, 2019 photo, The Atlanta Cyclorama, an platform, much like cano- curator for the Atlanta History Center, looks around at the At-
enormous painting more than 100 years old, is seen at the At- pies were used in the 19th lanta Cyclorama, an enormous painting more than 100 years
lanta History Center on Friday, Feb 15, 2019, in Atlanta. century displays. old, in Atlanta.
Associated Press "We have returned the Associated Press