Medieval History
At the turn of the twentieth century, the Aldine Association was located on 18th street and 5th Avenue in Manhattan. An all-male club, they hosted elaborate events featuring prominent speakers. For the gathering of the Illustrators Guild on December 22, 1905, over 200 people were invited, Winston Churchill among them. The woodblock illustrator Alexander W. Drake took great pains to design the decor at the Aldine Club for that evening. The New York Times reported: "The dinner was remarkable for the decorations of the rooms. These had been arranged by Alexander W. Drake. Mr. Clemens and Mr. Mabie, the toastmaster, were framed in by a pilothouse, from the corners of which were suspended colored lights and the cornice of which bore the name of Alonzo Child, the name of one of the steamboats which Mr. Clemens used to pilot on the Mississippi River. The walls were festooned with hanging moss, and here and there were suspended oranges, gourds, and other Southern growths, while catfish were sailing about in aquariums."
The stormy weather did nothing to stop invited guests from arriving. Mark Twain was 70 years old, he had traveled the world delivering speeches, and received accolades for his most famous novels, Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He had attended hundreds of similar events, small-talking with the big-wigs of the publishing world, journalists, artists, politicians, socialites, fellow writers. The din and the glitter, the food and the conversations must have been fairly routine for America's most famous author.
A handful of speakers preceded him that night. When Samuel Clemens stood in the staged pilothouse to begin his speech, he looked out over the decorative Spanish moss, the swimming, be-whiskered catfish, the men in their finery, and he was surprised by a medieval visage. It was reported, "Just before Mr. Clemens made his speech, a young woman attired as Joan of Arc, with a page bearing her flag of battle, courtesied reverently and tendered Mr. Clemens a laurel wreath on a satin pillow. He tried to speak, but his voice failed from excess of emotion. "I thank you!" he finally exclaimed, and, pulling himself together, he began his speech."
As a young boy, Clemens came across an article briefly chronicling the life of Joan of Arc. Her story captured his imagination, and for the rest of his life Joan of Arc held special interest for him. Years after the acclaimed success for his most famous novels, Clemens returned to the topic that was so dear to him, and embarked on writing a book about Joan. It took twelve years of 'diligent' study before he felt prepared to write the book.
He labored on that novel. He wrote complete drafts, and threw them out. He was in pursuit of the right narrative, the appropriate voice, to do justice to his Joan. His completed product is a historically precise, lengthy novel. It almost wasn't published. Nonetheless, Clemens held that his Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc was his 'best' novel, he was the most proud of that book. It is almost unimaginable that the author of Huckleberry Finn did not consider that novel his best.
For Samuel Clemens, the event on December 22, 1905 was a miniature version of what happened over Mark Twain's career. His most famous novels are brimming with Clemens' signature wit, canny social criticism, and received praise and attention from the literary world. Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc contains nothing of that, yet it was the work Clemens was most proud of, because his heart was there. He had a love for Joan that I relate to, in the words of his narrator: "And yet she was so human, too, and so good and kind and dear and loving and cheery and charming and unspoiled and unaffected! Those are all the words I think of now, but they are not enough; no, they are too few and colorless and meager to tell it all, or tell the half."
Seeing a beautiful young woman dressed in medieval armor amidst the trappings of 'the Old South,' among tables circled by influential men, was not only visually unexpected for Samuel Clemens, but metaphysically unexpected. He continued his speech that night:
I have not yet studied Joan for twelve years like Mark Twain, but as an art historian I have studied hundreds of paintings, statues, prints, and illustrations presenting images of Joan, and yes - mostly what one encounters is a Joan with "the fixed expression of a ham." There are exceptions, and some I have already featured on this blog. So my question to you, dear reader, is when does visual art capture the essence of an individual? When have you seen it? What works of art have brought a historical personage alive for you? What does it require of the artist?
- France Celebrates Joan Of Arc's 600th Birthday
The normally tranquil city of Orleans is buzzing with festivities over the next two weeks to mark the 600th birthday of one of France's best cultural exports: Joan of Arc. Looking appropriately cinematic, the Loire River swarmed with wooden boats...
- The Riddle Of Mark Twain's Passion For Joan Of Arc
Mark Twain?s obsession with Joan of Arc has to rank among the most baffling and least talked about enigmas in American literature. Even for those entrenched within the competitive world of Twain scholarship, stories like the one above are usually treated...
- All For Papers *international Joan Of Arc Society
CALL FOR PAPERS *International Joan of Arc Society/ Société Internationale de l?étude de Jeanne d?Arc* *SESSION I*. "*TheTrial to Nullify Joan of Arc's Condemnation."* While much discussion has focused on Joan's Condemnation Trial of 1431,...
- Marine Le Pen & Jeanne D'arc - An Uncomfortable Iconography
Iconographically, very few can claim as much power as Joan of Arc. The idea of Joan has been used in thousands of ways for innumerable causes, and she continues to resurface in new forms and imagery constantly. The political leader Marine Le Pen of the...
- The Geography Of Joan, Part Ii: Orleans
The battles won at Orleans were the decisive victories for the French in the Hundred Years War. Orleans' situation on the Loire was important for the English, as it would have connected their landholdings in the west with their Burgundians allies...
Medieval History
Aldine Club, 1905: Mark Twain & Joan of Arc
At the turn of the twentieth century, the Aldine Association was located on 18th street and 5th Avenue in Manhattan. An all-male club, they hosted elaborate events featuring prominent speakers. For the gathering of the Illustrators Guild on December 22, 1905, over 200 people were invited, Winston Churchill among them. The woodblock illustrator Alexander W. Drake took great pains to design the decor at the Aldine Club for that evening. The New York Times reported: "The dinner was remarkable for the decorations of the rooms. These had been arranged by Alexander W. Drake. Mr. Clemens and Mr. Mabie, the toastmaster, were framed in by a pilothouse, from the corners of which were suspended colored lights and the cornice of which bore the name of Alonzo Child, the name of one of the steamboats which Mr. Clemens used to pilot on the Mississippi River. The walls were festooned with hanging moss, and here and there were suspended oranges, gourds, and other Southern growths, while catfish were sailing about in aquariums."
The stormy weather did nothing to stop invited guests from arriving. Mark Twain was 70 years old, he had traveled the world delivering speeches, and received accolades for his most famous novels, Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He had attended hundreds of similar events, small-talking with the big-wigs of the publishing world, journalists, artists, politicians, socialites, fellow writers. The din and the glitter, the food and the conversations must have been fairly routine for America's most famous author.
As a young boy, Clemens came across an article briefly chronicling the life of Joan of Arc. Her story captured his imagination, and for the rest of his life Joan of Arc held special interest for him. Years after the acclaimed success for his most famous novels, Clemens returned to the topic that was so dear to him, and embarked on writing a book about Joan. It took twelve years of 'diligent' study before he felt prepared to write the book.
He labored on that novel. He wrote complete drafts, and threw them out. He was in pursuit of the right narrative, the appropriate voice, to do justice to his Joan. His completed product is a historically precise, lengthy novel. It almost wasn't published. Nonetheless, Clemens held that his Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc was his 'best' novel, he was the most proud of that book. It is almost unimaginable that the author of Huckleberry Finn did not consider that novel his best.
For Samuel Clemens, the event on December 22, 1905 was a miniature version of what happened over Mark Twain's career. His most famous novels are brimming with Clemens' signature wit, canny social criticism, and received praise and attention from the literary world. Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc contains nothing of that, yet it was the work Clemens was most proud of, because his heart was there. He had a love for Joan that I relate to, in the words of his narrator: "And yet she was so human, too, and so good and kind and dear and loving and cheery and charming and unspoiled and unaffected! Those are all the words I think of now, but they are not enough; no, they are too few and colorless and meager to tell it all, or tell the half."
Seeing a beautiful young woman dressed in medieval armor amidst the trappings of 'the Old South,' among tables circled by influential men, was not only visually unexpected for Samuel Clemens, but metaphysically unexpected. He continued his speech that night:
Now there is an illustration [pointing to the retreating Joan of Arc]. That is exactly what I wanted--precisely what I wanted--when I was describing to myself Joan of Arc, after studying her history and her character for twelve years diligently. That was the product--not the conventional Joan of Arc. Wherever you find the conventional Joan of Arc in history she is an offense to anybody who knows the story of that wonderful girl. Why, she was--she was almost supreme in several details. She had a marvelous intellect; she had a great heart, had a noble spirit, was absolutely pure in her character, her feeling, her language, her words, her everything--she was only eighteen years old. Now put that heart into such a breast--eighteen years old--and give it that masterly intellect which showed in the face, and furnish it with that almost god-like spirit, and what are you going to have? The conventional Joan of Arc? Not by any means. That is impossible. I cannot comprehend any such thing as that. You must have a creature like that young and fair and beautiful girl we just saw. And her spirit must look out of the eyes. The figure should be--the figure should be in harmony with all that, but, oh, what we get in the conventional picture, and it is always the conventional picture! I hope you will allow me to say that your guild, when you take the conventional, you have got it at second-hand. Certainly, if you had studied and studied, then you might have something else as a result, but when you have the common convention you stick to that. You cannot prevail upon the artist to do it; he always gives you a Joan of Arc--that lovely creature that started a great career at thirteen, but whose greatness arrived when she was eighteen; and merely, because she was a girl he can not see the divinity in her, and so he paints a peasant, a coarse and lubberly figure--the figure of a cotton-bale, and he clothes that in the coarsest raiment of the peasant region just like a fish woman, her hair cropped short like a Russian peasant, and that face of hers, which should be beautiful and which should radiate all the glories which are in the spirit and in her heart that expression in that face is always just the fixed expression of a ham.After more than a decade of study, Samuel Clemens knew Joan of Arc so well that to his mind, only a living, breathing girl could 'illustrate' her appropriately. Joan of Arc was not Saint Joan yet, but her iconography was canonized. Clemens did not believe a two-dimensional representation of such a woman could capture her spirit or her greatness because artists relied on the convention, and "when you take the conventional, you have got it at second-hand."
I have not yet studied Joan for twelve years like Mark Twain, but as an art historian I have studied hundreds of paintings, statues, prints, and illustrations presenting images of Joan, and yes - mostly what one encounters is a Joan with "the fixed expression of a ham." There are exceptions, and some I have already featured on this blog. So my question to you, dear reader, is when does visual art capture the essence of an individual? When have you seen it? What works of art have brought a historical personage alive for you? What does it require of the artist?
- France Celebrates Joan Of Arc's 600th Birthday
The normally tranquil city of Orleans is buzzing with festivities over the next two weeks to mark the 600th birthday of one of France's best cultural exports: Joan of Arc. Looking appropriately cinematic, the Loire River swarmed with wooden boats...
- The Riddle Of Mark Twain's Passion For Joan Of Arc
Mark Twain?s obsession with Joan of Arc has to rank among the most baffling and least talked about enigmas in American literature. Even for those entrenched within the competitive world of Twain scholarship, stories like the one above are usually treated...
- All For Papers *international Joan Of Arc Society
CALL FOR PAPERS *International Joan of Arc Society/ Société Internationale de l?étude de Jeanne d?Arc* *SESSION I*. "*TheTrial to Nullify Joan of Arc's Condemnation."* While much discussion has focused on Joan's Condemnation Trial of 1431,...
- Marine Le Pen & Jeanne D'arc - An Uncomfortable Iconography
Iconographically, very few can claim as much power as Joan of Arc. The idea of Joan has been used in thousands of ways for innumerable causes, and she continues to resurface in new forms and imagery constantly. The political leader Marine Le Pen of the...
- The Geography Of Joan, Part Ii: Orleans
The battles won at Orleans were the decisive victories for the French in the Hundred Years War. Orleans' situation on the Loire was important for the English, as it would have connected their landholdings in the west with their Burgundians allies...