Column: Bev Jackson Cotter, Art Is…

Do you remember the painting of George Washington standing in the prow of a small boat with his flag bearer proudly holding the new flag of the United States and the crew battling huge chunks of ice as they cross the Delaware? This is a scene etched forever in the minds of students as they study the Revolutionary War and in the hearts of Americans. It’s also a scene that art students study, wondering at the ability of the artist to capture the emotions and power of this significant moment in U.S. history.

Did you know that this painting was done in 1851 by a German-American artist Emanuel Leutze who had two purposes in mind? One to recognize Washington’s heroic efforts, the other to encourage liberals who had supported a failed revolution in Germany.

Or how about the terra cotta warriors in the mausoleum of Shi Huangdi who combined feudal aristocracies and unified China, circa 220 B.C. His tomb contains 8,000 life-size figures representing the various levels of military. None of the figures look alike in facial expression or body position. Accounts state that it took 700,000 workers 36 years to complete the construction.

Isn’t it interesting that these works have found their way into our history books and our art history books?

Several years ago, I met a lady who was taking a history correspondence course that combined art, music and architecture, and as she described it to me, I thought, “Of course, how else do we remember what has gone before?” We have writings, poems, stories, music and the visual arts — all done by artists, and all surviving down through hundreds, yes, thousands of years.

I have a delightful set of American farm life drawings done by an English artist in 1850, about the time that southern Minnesota was being settled. The barns look European, not American, the work horses look more like thoroughbreds, and the houses look more like cottages than our log cabins and sod huts. The sketches were done for a newspaper to show the English population what life was like on the Minnesota prairies. Right or wrong, it was an artist who gave his viewers a picture of American rural life.

A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to tour the Waterford glass factory in Ireland. The dishes and glassware were incredibly beautiful, but the two pieces that are most clear in my memory are a crystal Mickey Mouse hat and a heart wrenching sculpture of the ruins of 9/11, a tribute to the rescue workers who lost their lives that day.

Art and history. The two are inseparable.

Who can forget the photography of the Great Depression, or the fall of the Berlin Wall, the funeral of Princess Diana, or of World War II? These scenes stay in our memories long after the speeches and lectures have faded away.

The earliest solid example of art that we have is preserved in the caves of Lascaux, near Dordogne, France. Gardner’s “Art Through the Ages” describes the animal pictures “.. .its grace or awkwardness, its cunning, dignity, or ferocity. It is almost as if the artists were constructing a pictorial definition of the animal, capturing its very essence.” These wall drawings of hunters and animals date back to 10,000 to 15,000 B.C.

The Egyptians recorded their lives in stone relief on the walls of their tombs and temples 4,000 years ago, and their stories can easily be read today.

Our history survives through art. How lucky we are.

Bev Jackson Cotter is a member of the Albert Lea Art Center where the art of members of the Austin Art Center will be on display April 21 to May 28 The Open House will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. May 15.