Arthur Mole

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Human Statue of Liberty

Arthur Samuel Mole (born January 7, 1889 in Lexden, † August 14, 1983 in Fort Lauderdale ) was an American photographer of British origin who became famous for his "living photographs". For these works of art he arranged together with John D. Thomas († 1947) during the First World War a considerable number (9,000–30,000) of military personnel and other volunteers in formations that formed gigantic patriotic symbols photographed from great heights.

Life

Mole's family immigrated to the United States in 1902 when he was 13 years old. Arthur Mole worked as a commercial photographer in Zion, Illinois, north of Chicago. During the First World War and also in the years afterwards, he traveled to various military and naval bases in the USA to implement his huge projects. In 1920 he formed a panther with the help of students from the University of Pittsburg and other volunteers. The preparation of such an action took a week, sometimes several. For each pattern, he worked out the exact number of people he would need. The positioning of the individual extras to form an overall picture then took several hours. Mole gave the instructions for this from a 20 m high observation tower through a megaphone or by waving a white flag. For a better understanding of the dimensions: The Wilson portrait covers an area of ​​200 meters - the Statue of Liberty was half a mile long. Of course, the final shots - all in black and white - were made on the tower.

Mole and Thomas donated the proceeds from their projects to a government program aimed at promoting the reintegration of returned soldiers into social life. When the demand for his photographs waned in the 1920s, he retired to Zion in his former photography business. The pictures by Arthur Mole and John Thomas are now in the Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art (both New York), the Library of Congress (Washington DC), the Chicago Historical Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art . Mole is considered a pioneer in the field of formation photography.

technology

The designs are remarkable in that they are not based on a simple grid, but the people involved are arranged in curved lines. Mole designed color differences, shades and other subtleties using dark or light clothing, hats and spaces in between the rows. Note that the desired image was only recognizable from Mole's point of view ( anamorphosis ). In other words, in order to get an even image of the observation tower, the formation in the rear area had to be many times wider than in the front area, directly below the tower. This explains why, for example, 12,000 people were required for the torch of the Statue of Liberty, whereas only 17 men formed the base.

Art professor Dan Collins sees a trompe l'oeil effect in Mole's work .

Works (selection)

  • Statue of Liberty , 1918
  • Sincerely yours, Woodrow Wilson , 1918
  • The Human American Eagle , 1918
  • The Human US Shield , 1918
  • Human Liberty Bell , 1918
  • The living Machine Gun Insignia , 1918
  • Living Emblem of the United States Marines , 1919
  • Sandstorm Division living insignia , 1918
  • horse
  • The Living Uncle Sam , 1919
  • 209th Engineers , 1919
  • Grenzhausen, Germany 1st Field Artillery Brigade, 1st Division , 1919
  • A Living Flag , 1917
  • The Zion Shield , 1920
  • Living Insignia of 27th Division , 1919
  • The Panther Insignia , 1920
  • Hawaiian Division Living Insignia
  • Official Seal of 11th Division Lafayette

Web links

Commons : Arthur Mole  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ moma.org
  2. ↑ Patriotic Bird's-eye View Group Photographs ( Memento from January 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ^ The Human US Shield in the Museum of Modern Art
  4. ↑ metmuseum.org
  5. ↑ sfmoma.org
  6. ↑ news.minnesota.publicradio.org
  7. ↑ Amazing US morale photographs united for exhibition The Telegraph of July 30, 2009
  8. ↑ asu.edu
  9. ↑ 2014 Art Fairs ( Memento from January 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Mole, Arthur
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mole, Arthur Samuel (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American photographer of British descent
DATE OF BIRTH January 7, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Lexden
DATE OF DEATH August 14, 1983
Place of death Fort Lauderdale