My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org
My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org
i66MY LIFEI had brought with me vocabularies of about ahundred common words in ten different Indian languages,and as the great philologist at that time wasthe late Dr. R. G. Latham, I obtained an introductionto him, and he kindly offered to write some " Remarks" upon the vocabularies, and these are publishedin the first edition of my " Travels."Dr. Latham was at this time engaged in fittingup groups of figures to illustrate the family life andhabits of the various races of mankind at the newCrystal Palace at Sydenham, then just completed,and he asked me to meet him there and see whetherany alterations were required in a group of natives,I think, of Guiana.I found Dr. Latham among a number of workmenin white aprons, several life-size clay models ofIndians, and a number of their ornaments, weapons,and utensils. The head modellers were Italians, andDr. Latham told me he could get no Englishmen todo the work, and that these Italians, although clevermodellers of the human figure in any required attitude,had all been trained in the schools of classicalsculpture, and were unable to get away from thistraining. The result was very curious, and often evenludicrous, a brown Indian man or girl being giventhe attitudes and expressions of an Apollo or aHercules, a Venus or a Minerva. In those daysthere were no photographs, and the ethnologist hadto trust to paintings or drawings, usually exaggeratedor taken from individuals of exceptional beauty orugliness. Under my suggestion alterations weremade both in the features and pose of one or twoof the figures just completed, so as to give them alittle more of the Indian character, and serve as aguide in modelling others, in which the same type
LONDON, AND VOYAGE TO THE EAST 167of physiognomy was to be preserved. I went severaltimes during the work on the groups of SouthAmerican origin, but though when completed, withthe real ornaments, clothing, weapons, and domesticimplements, the groups were fairly characteristic andlife-like, yet there remained occasionally details ofattitude or expression which suggested classicGreeceor Italy rather than the South American savage.These ethnological figures, although instructiveto the student, were never very popular, and soonbecame the subject of contempt and ridicule. Onereason of this was their arrangement in the open,quite close to the passing visitor, with nothing toisolate them from altogether incongruous surroundings.Another was, that they were not carefully attendedto, and when I saw them after my return from theEast, they had a shabby and dilapidated appearance,and the figures themselves were more or less dusty,which had a most ludicrous effect in what were intendedto represent living men and women, being soutterly unlike the clear, glossy, living skins of allsavage peoples. To be successful and life-like, suchgroups should be each completely isolated in a deeprecess, with three sides representing houses or huts,or the forest, or river-bank, while the open frontshould be enclosed by a single sheet of plate-glass,and the group should be seen at a distance of atleast ten or fifteen feet. In this way, with a carefullyarranged illumination from above and an artisticcolouring of the figures and accessories, each groupmight be made to appear as life-like as some of thebest figures at Madame Tussaud's, or as the grandinteriors of cathedrals,which were then exhibited atthe Diorama. In the museum of the future, suchgroups will find their place in due succession to the
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i66MY LIFEI had brought with me vocabularies <strong>of</strong> about ahundred common words in ten different Indian languages,<strong>and</strong> as the great philologist at that time wasthe late Dr. R. G. Latham, I obtained an introductionto him, <strong>and</strong> he kindly <strong>of</strong>fered to write some " Remarks" upon the vocabularies, <strong>and</strong> these are publishedin the first edition <strong>of</strong> my " Travels."Dr. Latham was at this time engaged in fittingup groups <strong>of</strong> figures to illustrate the family <strong>life</strong> <strong>and</strong>habits <strong>of</strong> the various races <strong>of</strong> mankind at the newCrystal Palace at Sydenham, then just completed,<strong>and</strong> he asked me to meet him there <strong>and</strong> see whetherany alterations were required in a group <strong>of</strong> natives,I think, <strong>of</strong> Guiana.I found Dr. Latham among a number <strong>of</strong> workmenin white aprons, several <strong>life</strong>-size clay models <strong>of</strong>Indians, <strong>and</strong> a number <strong>of</strong> their ornaments, weapons,<strong>and</strong> utensils. The head modellers were Italians, <strong>and</strong>Dr. Latham told me he could get no Englishmen todo the work, <strong>and</strong> that these Italians, although clevermodellers <strong>of</strong> the human figure in any required attitude,had all been trained in the schools <strong>of</strong> classicalsculpture, <strong>and</strong> were unable to get away from thistraining. The result was very curious, <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong>ten evenludicrous, a brown Indian man or girl being giventhe attitudes <strong>and</strong> expressions <strong>of</strong> an Apollo or aHercules, a Venus or a Minerva. In those daysthere were no photographs, <strong>and</strong> the ethnologist hadto trust to paintings or drawings, usually exaggeratedor taken from individuals <strong>of</strong> exceptional beauty orugliness. Under my suggestion alterations weremade both in the features <strong>and</strong> pose <strong>of</strong> one or two<strong>of</strong> the figures just completed, so as to give them alittle more <strong>of</strong> the Indian character, <strong>and</strong> serve as aguide in modelling others, in which the same type
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