disasters in art - sarah wallin huff · it is to three of history’s great disasters we will turn,...

© 2005 Sarah Wallin

Disasters in Art By Sarah Wallin

“The City of Naples, with Mount Vesuvius Across the Bay” Source: Hall, Jennie. Buried Cities, Complete [e-book]. Project Gutenberg. EText-No. 9628. 10 August

2004. Image 2. 15 August 2005. <http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/9/6/2/9628/9628-h/9628-h.htm>.


Disasters in Art

Synopsis

Societies throughout time have responded to death in various ways.

Through mourning traditions, people have managed to cope and find acceptance

with the inevitability of death. But when death comes on a massive and

destructive scale, taking numerous lives in an instant, mourning can take on a

bitter and angry shade. Sometimes these waves of destruction are wielded by the

hand of fellow men, as in the case of war; however, at other times, death is dealt

to the human race by the hand of nature, by the very planet we call home, in

tremendous and terrifying displays of might. And when the earth rumbles and

rages against us, often we are left with a sense helplessness and insignificance,

for how often destruction comes when we are not expecting it! Even so, as ages

pass, the events surrounding these natural disasters – the gargantuan power of

nature, the heroism of mankind in the face of insurmountable odds, and the

related, almost mythic illustrations available for us in present times – are kept

alive for generations through a society’s artwork.

It is to three of history’s great disasters we will turn, in this survey of

artwork that has kept alive our strange fascination with natural destruction. The

art of these disasters – the sinking of the Titanic, the horror of the Black Death,

and the destruction of Pompeii – spans the centuries and cultures, making plain

that numerous societies have been, and continue to be, impacted by the events of

past civilizations.


Titanic When one thinks of the story of the RMS Titanic and its fateful journey in

April of 1912, the popular film of 1997 by James Cameron, entitled “Titanic”,

probably most vividly comes to mind. However, this film, with all its technical

wizardry, romance, and (debated) historical accuracy, was only another in a long

line of similar films. The first we will consider is the 1953 film by the same name,

directed by Jean Negulesco. In a brief, written narrative at the beginning, the film

boasts of its historical accuracy, claiming that the dialogue itself was taken from

personal accounts and existing records of the events that had transpired on

Titanic’s fateful voyage. The personal angle of the story, however, revolves

around the bitter struggle of a divorcing couple with their two children, a

drunken priest suspended of his duties, and a college boy attempting to woo the

snobbish daughter of the aforementioned couple; the film also details the small

mishaps that together eventually led to Titanic’s demise. Each of these characters

seems to be running from or running to life, and when the esteemed liner hits an

iceberg, their fates converge in one climactic and devastating moment.

I personally found this version of the tale to be more emotionally stirring

and riveting than the 1997 version, though it has been speculated that the reason

James Cameron steered clear of blatant historical accuracy was because it had

been done so many times before (Internet Movie Database forums). Granted, the

final moment when the ship sinks into the sea is quite abrupt in the 1953 version

and perhaps a strange sight to modern viewers who expect to see Titanic break

into two, but it wasn’t until the wreckage of the ship had been studied, some


thirty years after the earlier movie, that the evidence of that breakage had been

established.

Following the inspiration of the 1953 film, in 1955 narrative historian

Walter Lord published a novel on the disaster entitled, A Night to Remember.

Basing his work on his own careful investigations, the book charts the ship’s last

hours “with meticulous accuracy”. “[T]his powerful book puts the tragedy of the

Titanic in human terms… The story is truly extraordinary because it all

happened and the drama of the author's narrative-style makes it all the more

gripping” (“Tribute to Walter Lord”). And it was this groundbreaking, gripping

novel that inspired a film in 1958 by the same title, a film that has been acclaimed

“by critics and fans to be the most accurate of several movie portrayals of the

disaster” (Wikipedia “A Night to Remember”).

Among the historically accurate details that Walter Lord raised in his

work was the question of which song concluded the final performance of the

Titanic Band, for, prior to the book’s release, it had been a long-held tradition

that “Nearer My God, To Thee” deserved that stirring honor. However, based on

a detailed, personal account of a survivor, an operator named Harold Bride, the

last tune had been accredited to “Autumn”. According to George Behe,

“Whereas it had always been assumed that Bride was referring to the Episcopal

hymn of that name, Walter suggested [in a 1986 sequel] that Bride had in

actuality been referring to ‘Songe d'Automne,’ a waltz by Archibald Joyce that

had been popular at the time of the Titanic's sinking” (“Music of the Titanic’s

Band”). This, coupled with countless other conflicting accounts, have made it

difficult to ascertain with any certainty, which tune was being played as the ship


sank. Nonetheless, George Behe makes a case for the hymn “Nearer My God, To

Thee” by relating the following story of bandmaster Wallace Hartley:

“Elwane Moody, a well-known Leeds musician, was a close friend of Wallace

Hartley and had just completed twenty-two Atlantic crossings with him on the

Mauretania. In fact, Hartley had asked Moody to accompany him on the Titanic,

but Moody had declined.

Not long before the Titanic's maiden voyage, Moody asked Hartley, "What

would you do if you were ever on a ship that was sinking?"

Hartley looked thoughtful for a moment and replied:

‘I don't think I could do better than play "O God, Our Help In Ages Past" or

"Nearer My God, To Thee.’

Later, after the disaster, Moody said, ‘When I read the statement in the papers

that he had gone to his death leading the band in "Nearer My God, To Thee," I

believed it. If it had been some other hymn I might not have done so, but as it is I

can quite believe it. It is just what he would do.’

Lewis Cross, bass viol player on the Celtic, was another friend of Wallace

Hartley who once spoke with him about the possibility of a shipwreck. Hartley

smiled and said, ‘Well, I don't suppose it will ever happen, but you know music

is a bigger weapon than a gun in a big emergency, and I think that a band could

do more to calm passengers than all the officers’” (“The Music of the Titanic’s

Band”).

Whether or not “Nearer My God, To Thee” was truly the last song to ring

in the air as Titanic sank, it was one of several other hymns passengers recalled

hearing, along with ragtime and patriotic tunes, and it’s simple and profound

implications of escaping the tragedies of this earth will remain a symbol of the

poor souls lost to the frozen depths.


Paintings and photographs have also played a role in keeping these

images of Titanic’s disaster before us, images such as the original artwork of

Regina Wuchner – her contemporary image of the survivors in their lifeboats, for

example, and the image of the pristine deck of the great ship. On a lighter note,

however, the story of this tragedy has also been turned around in a witty comic

published by George Lucas in congratulations of Cameron’s unprecedented

success with his version of the film, “Titanic”.

The Black Death

The horrors of the Black plagues of fourteenth- through seventeenth-

century Europe, with its enormous death toll and mysterious origins (to the

people of the time), naturally evoked a host of disturbing and provocative

artwork, then and now. Engravings of the time period depict such images as

skeletons alongside kings who are attempting to ward them off, death carts filled

with shrouded bodies on their way to the pits, and pious monks shunned for

contracting the disease, as evidenced by the red boils on their faces. Later

artwork also depicts vivid scenes of ravaged city streets filled with bodies and

pestilence, evoking a sense of abandoned chaos and bitter destruction.

Perhaps one of the most complex works of art depicting both the plague

and its cultural implications is a contemporary play written by Naomi Wallace,

called “One Flea Spare”. The title and broader concept were inspired by a poem

of John Donne called, “The Flea”, which is a stunning and complex example of

the Renaissance fascination with the pestilent insects and their audacious


capabilities of mixing blood, thereby uniting, for example, a man with his lover

(see WzDD's HSC Info Page “Overall Explanation”).

According to Eric Marchese in his account of “One Flea Spare” for the

Orange County Register, “During the horrendously hot summer of 1665, the

upper-class Snelgraves, William…and Darcy…discover that 12-year-old Morse

Braithwaite…and Bunce…a sailor, have been hiding in their cellar. In close

confinement, as William puts Bunce to work as his servant, issues of class spring

up immediately, and the Snelgraves' strained marriage opens the door for a

seething, subtextual attraction between Bunce and Mrs. Snelgrave. The character

of Kabe…the plague guard assigned to patrol the Snelgraves' neighborhood, is

the only link these four inhabitants have with the outside world, and all four use

whatever means are at hand to bargain with him…There's the cruelty each

individual must endure and that of the universe, as demonstrated by the

virulence of the plague, whose symptoms are described in graphic detail” (27

May 2005).

Such a play inspires us to dig deeper into the human aspect of surviving

in a world ravaged by disease, where class structure and former sensibilities are

stripped away.

Pompeii

Artist Eleanor Antin, in commenting on her contemporary photographic

series, “The Last Days of Pompeii”, stated, “I have this love affair with the past…

You can find anything you want by going back to the past. You don’t even have


to look. The metaphors start erupting all over the place. I've always loved the

past because of the relations that I could make as an artist with the present”

(Art:21). Indeed, Antin’s work adds a colorful modern flair to the images of

Pompeii, of the leisurely inhabitants rolling in their wealth right up until the

devastating moment when Vesuvius erupted spectacularly in 79 C.E.

Many paintings are notable in their depiction of Vesuvius in all its

majestic fury, and of the total ruin of two major cities as a result of that fury. In

both The Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum by John Martin in 1821 (black

and white), and The Last Day of Pompeii by Karl Brulloff in 1833 (color), the

inhabitants of Pompeii can be seen in mid-flight with ash and fire at their backs,

their faces contorted with horror and despair. Whereas Antin’s photographs give

us affluence followed by quiet despair, these two painters give us a sense of

urgency as the dead lay in the streets and as the volcano’s fury vibrantly

consumes them (circulating the borders of the image and funneling in toward the

people) in their pointless flight toward the coast.

An important literary gift to this subject is Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel,

The Last Days of Pompeii of 1834. Not unlike the tragic romance depicted upon the

backdrop of Cameron’s Titanic disaster, Lytton’s work “focuses on a virtuous

young Roman man, Glaucus, who is stuck in a love quadrangle with a beautiful,

equally virtuous young lady, a blind slave girl, and a sinister Egyptian who

beguiles the lovely young lady. In the background is a turmoil of religious and

social problems, with a deadly volcano smoldering behind it all. Then, a murder

is committed -- and Glaucus is arrested for the crime, and sentenced to be sent

into the arena. When Vesuvius blows, will any of them survive?” (E. A Solinas,


reviewer on Amazon.com < http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-

/158715739X/104-7705786-7181564?v=glance>).

Lytton is known for his lush, Victorian writing style that many, perhaps

younger, readers often find excessive and dense. Yet, even for the novel’s

flowery language and complicated romantic struggle, Lytton “provides a

catalogue of such structures of cataclysm and crisis. After building towards the

volcano's eruption, The Last Days of Pompeii then devotes considerable space to

presenting it in detail. Bulwer-Lytton follows Pliny the Younger [the established,

historically accurate, eyewitness account of the event]” (Landow “Bulwer-Lytton

Punishes Pompeii”). The book inspired a miniseries adaptation for TV in 1984,

directed by Peter Hunt, which is still held in high esteem, and artist George

Halse sculpted a lovely image in marble of Nydia the Blind Flower Girl, from

Lytton's Last Days of Pompeii (1860), further adding life to the well-loved story.

Concluding Thoughts

In the words of George Landow, this vast array of artwork “present[s]

human beings suddenly assaulted by powerful forces – forces that exist on a

scale far vaster than the human – that threaten to destroy them. The structure or

situation in which these people find themselves, moreover, immediately

separates their old, everyday existence from the new terrifying one that has just

sprung into being” (Landow “Bulwer-Lytton Punishes Pompeii”). Furthermore,

artwork that springs to life as we recall these overwhelming terrors seeks to find


a meaning or a metaphor in the event, and, at the same time, celebrates the

creative adaptability of mankind on this ever-changing earth.


Works Cited Titanic:

A Night to Remember. “A Tribute to Walter Lord” [online]. The Titanic Historical

Society, Inc. 22 August 2005. < http://www.titanic1.org/people/walter-lord.asp>. “A Night to Remember” [online]. Wikipedia. 22 August 2005.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Night_To_Remember>. “A Night to Remember (1958)” [online]. Internet Movie Database. 22 August 2005.

<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051994/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9bmlnaHQgdG8gcmVtZW1iZXJ8ZnQ9MXxteD0yMHxsbT01MDB8Y289MXxodG1sPTF8bm09MQ__;fc=1;ft=20;fm=1>.

Behe, George, compiler. Bandsmen on board Titanic's older sister, the Olympic. “The

Music of the Titanic's Band” [online]. George Behe’s Titanic Tidbits. 9 February 2002. Titanic Historical Society. 22 August 2005. <http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Carpathia/page3.htm>.

Behe, George, compiler. White Star Line Music Book Cover. “The Music of the Titanic's

Band” [online]. George Behe’s Titanic Tidbits. 9 February 2002. Titanic Historical Society. 22 August 2005. <http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Carpathia/page3.htm>.

Cook, Scott, compiler. Titanic Congratulatory Ad [online]. Cloth Monkey. 17 May 2005.

22 August 2005. <http://www.clothmonkey.com/artifacts.htm>. Hamilton, Maxx and Mike Szymanski. “Most Expensive, Most Successful Wins 'Titanic'

Oscar Race” [online]. 8 December 2004. Zap2it. 22 August 2005. <http://www.zap2it.com/movies/features/scenes/story/0,1259,---23872,00.html>.

“Titanic (1953)” [online]. Internet Movie Database. 22 August 2005.

<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046435/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9dGl0YW5pY3xmdD0xfG14PTIwfGxtPTUwMHxjbz0xfGh0bWw9MXxubT0x;fc=2;ft=78;fm=1>.

“Titanic (1997)” [online]. Internet Movie Database. 22 August 2005.

<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120338/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9dGl0YW5pY3xmdD0xfG14PTIwfGxtPTUwMHxjbz0xfGh0bWw9MXxubT0x;fc=1;ft=78;fm=1>.

Wuchner, Regina. Zeichnung der Überlebenden in ihren Rettungsbooten. Titanic-Bilder.

22 August 2005. <http://www.titanicy.de/Bilder/titanic-bilder.htm>. Wuchner, Regina. Das Bootsdeck der Titanic. Titanic-Bilder. 22 August 2005.

<http://www.titanicy.de/Bilder/titanic-bilder.htm>.


Wuchner, Regina. Der Eisberg, der die Titanic versenkte?. Titanic-Bilder. 22 August

2005. <http://www.titanicy.de/Bilder/titanic-bilder.htm>.

Black Death: An Illustration from a Fourteenth-Century Manuscript [online]. Jonathan H. Hsy.

University of Pennsylvania. 22 August 2005. <http://www.english.upenn.edu/~jhsy/bd.html>.

“Bubonic Plague and the Black Death” [online]. William Shakespeare Info. 22 August

2005. <http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-bubonic-plague-black-death.htm>.

FitzRoy-Dale, Nicholas. “WzDD's HSC Info: 2Unit Related English: John Donne The

Flea” [online]. 22 August 2005. < http://lardcave.net/tig/hsc/2eng-donne-flea-comments.html>.

“One Flea Spare”. By Naomi Wallace. Dir. Patricia L. Terry. Chance Theater Repertory

Company, Anaheim Hills, CA. May 21 - June 12, 2005. Schneegurt, Mark A. “Black Death Art”. Biology 103 - Microbes and You [course

website]. Lecture 14, Witchita State University. 22 August 2005. <http://webs.wichita.edu/mschneegurt/biol103/lecture14/plague_art.jpg>.

“The Black Death” [online]. 22 August 2005. <http://batgirl.atspace.com/plague.html>.

Pompeii: Antin, Eleanor. “The Last Days of Pompeii” [interview, online]. Art:21, PBS.

< http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/antin/clip1.html#>. Antin, Eleanor. “The Last Day”. The Last Days of Pompeii, 2001. Art:21, PBS.

<http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/antin/art_pompeii.html#>. Brulloff, Karl. The Last Day of Pompeii. The Russian Museum, St-Petersburg, Russia. Halse, George. Nydia the Blind Flower Girl, from Lytton's Last Days of Pompeii.

Conway Collection, Courtauld Institute, Somerset House, London. Landow, George P. “Bulwer-Lytton Punishes Pompeii”. Brown University. 22 August

2005. < http://www.victorianweb.org/art/crisis/crisis1e.html>. Martin, John. The Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum. University of Manchester,


United Kingdom. Purl, Linda. The Last Days of Pompeii. “Linda Purl’s Career Photo Gallery…Movies,

TV, Stage” [online]. www.LINDAPURL.net. 22 August 2005. <http://www.lindapurl.net/gallery/career/pomp1.htm>

disasters in art - sarah wallin huff · it is to three of history’s great disasters we will turn,...

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