[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review]
The book under review contains contributions from two conferences held at the Free University of Berlin in 2010 and at Cornell University in 2015, which dealt with this topic in detail for the first time. Most of the articles focus on plaster casts of Greek and Roman artworks, although other groups are also touched upon (Lauren Kellogg DiSalvo on the anthropological collection in Washington; Sally Forster on casts of medieval art in Scotland, pp. 375–400). The histories of individual institutions are presented from different geographical perspectives – several countries in Europe, Chile, Japan and the USA – and examined from various aspects. For the USA in particular, there are different approaches, because in addition to the copies of European works, these sometimes plaster casts of Native American artefacts.
In the 18th century large collections of casts of ancient sculpture were created in Europe. By the 19th century museums, universities, and private individuals bought and collected casts. Casts acquired for national and international fairs were also added to these collections. They were often displayed in public buildings and were intended to instruct visitors in the development of styles, especially of particularly striking objects, with the help of numerous guidebooks that were reprinted as the collections grew. The same objects appeared in many different collections. By the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, enormous plaster collections were created in the USA that were mainly casts from Europe.
During most of the 20th century, interest in plaster casts decreased everywhere as interest in original sculpture grew. Casts were no longer important: they gathered dust and were often damaged because of the fragility of the material. They were deaccessioned by museums and at best went to universities (Germany in particular has a tradition here). But even there, in the age of photography, they were increasingly neglected and became less necessary for teaching. In Europe in the period after the Second World War, some institutions disposed of damaged collections entirely. Casts were damaged or destroyed for many reasons, for example, the student protests of the 1960s. They were considered superfluous artefacts, relics of the past, and unfashionable didactic aids. Those that survived were often consigned to storage areas or even basements, where they were neglected or intentionally damaged (especially by students). Even storage claimed new victims, as the objects were not handled properly or the storage rooms did not offer adequate conservational conditions.
It was only late in the 20th century that their scientific value was recognised for the history of reception and as a record of earlier states of preservation of sculptures exposed to the elements, and finally as artistic works in their own right.
The book is divided into 6 sections with an introduction by the editors, who also briefly summarises the content of the contributions: (Post)colonial Contexts (pp. 21–101), Contested Classification. Art vs. Archaeology vs. Anthropology (103–220), The Contingencies of Value (pp. 221–307), The Contingencies of Authentity (pp. 309–400), Revolution and Iconoclasm (pp. 401–489), Envois (pp. 491–583).
The book presents the individual stories of many collections, many of which follow the general trend from importance to degradation discussed above.[1] Nonetheless, and this is what makes the anthology so interesting and worth reading, each collection is characterised by a different genesis and development due to a wide variety of local influences and circumstances. These could lie in the people involved and their environment, but also in the use of exhibition spaces according to the regional zeitgeist.
Nevertheless, one specific feature seems significant to me. In Europe there was greater similarity between collections during the early years, but outside Europe collections were less homogenous because they depended on individual sponsors or collectors. Fundamentally, however, the preservation and expansion of plaster collections were everywhere dependent on funds within the institutions. Space also plays an important role; plaster collections need large rooms for presentation. Plaster casts had to make way as institutions grew in other areas. Finally, due to the growing number of students at the universities, more and more rooms were needed for teaching and administration.
A couple of examples may be singled out here. Adam Rabinowitz (pp. 151–174) tells the story of the plaster cast collection at the University of Texas at Austin, which began in 1894. It is closely linked to the person of Harvard graduate William Battle, who taught at Austin as a professor of Greek almost continuously from 1893 until 1948. It was he who initiated the first purchases of plasters and placed them in the seminar rooms. His interest in classical antiquity determined the choice of motifs. Battle was the custodian of the collection, which was thus never deliberately damaged, though the locations changed for many reasons. Even after his retirement in 1948, Battle stayed on at the university and ‘his’ plaster collection remained untouched. Even after his death in 1955, little changed for several years. The collection was largely spared from a deliberate destruction, despite the currents of time. Nowadays some of the plaster casts are part of an exhibition with modern art.
Hadwiga Schörner (pp. 286–294) reports on the odyssey of the Jena plaster casts. Here too – as in Austin – it was a classical philologist who initiated the collection. In 1846, Carl Friedrich Goettling convinced the Grand Duke of Saxony-Weimar to provide space for the casts, supported by the Duke’s art-loving wife. The collection, which opened to the public in 1847, grew and was supplemented by originals of small-scale art. In 1904, a building was erected for the museum. The collection was damaged during the Second World War, but was restored at great expense after the war, but ten years later, the university lost interest and the space was needed otherwise. The archaeologist Gerhard Zinserling rescued the collection of about 400 pieces in 1962 by taking it to the Schlossmuseum in Sonderhausen, about 100 kilometers away. There they were no longer adequately cared for and their state of preservation deteriorated. In the 1980s another location had to be found, and the Berlin Museum was chosen. Not only could the plasters be professionally restored there, the Berlin Museum took over the costly packaging and transport and by 1983, the University of Jena’s collection no longer existed. In 2011, a “repatriation” of 284 objects from Berlin was successful.
Particularly interesting is the use and status of plaster casts in Japan, where the fate of the casts is quite different from Europe and the US. Shinya Araki (pp. 77–101), in a well-illustrated chapter, explains the Japanese access to the casts, which were imported in large numbers and used exclusively for art education. At the end of the 19th century Japan encouraged European painting styles and more realistic depiction of people. These paintings were also used to show Japan as a modern state oriented towards Europe). Plaster casts served as models for naturalistic drawing at public academies until the 1980s, and they still play a role in public schools. They even appear as ‘actors’ in an animated film from 2016!
The volume concludes with two comprehensive contributions by the editors. Annetta Alexandridis deals with the casts in relation to racism and colonialism. Alexandridis urges a look ‘from the outside’, asking how white plaster casts affect colonised people. For her, collections are places “in which visitors or scholars developed, illustrated, or promoted concepts of race and the racialised body” (p. 495). She explains how plasters were used in racial studies, especially in the 19th century, from casts such as the Apollo Belvedere, which was considered representative of the European ideal, or plaster casts of living people such as the Maoris in ethnographic collections (Alexandridis intentionally obscures or veils an image for privacy; see p. 514, fig. 8). Her comments on this fraught legacy are very interesting and instructive, but her call to exhibit casts based only on the current zeitgeist misses the mark, in my opinion. One would then fall back into the 19th century idea of ‘education’—then, in artistic styles, and now in an awareness of racism and colonialism. But we must keep in mind that the collections also still serve research goals, for example, in helping to reconstruct original compositions, or for experiments in former colouring (cf. Lorenz Winkler-Horaček, pp. 569–572).
The casts are important both for themselves and for the history of their reception. Lorenz Winkler-Horaček (pp. 527–583) reflects on the history of the plaster casts and their destruction from a Eurocentric and German perspective, incorporating the articles in this book. Destroy the Copy contains many very interesting, carefully researched and detailed articles, which allow one to get to know the individual stories of the collections and compare them with each other. The authors and editors are to be greatly thanked for this important and comprehensive book of reception history!
Authors and Titles
Introduction, Annetta Alexandridis and Lorenz Winkler-Horaček
I (POST)COLONIAL CONTEXTS
Introduction, Annetta Alexandridis
The (Mis)Performance of Cast Collections, Henrik Holm
The Rise and Fall of the Museo de Copias: On the History of the Collection of Sculpture Replicas in the National Museum of Fine Arts in Santiago de Chile, Natalia Keller
Embrace the Copy: Plaster Casts and Modernity in Art Education in Japan, Shinya Araki
II CONTESTED CLASSIFICATION: ART VS. ARCHAEOLOGY VS. ANTHROPOLOGY
Introduction, Annetta Alexandridis
Hidden in Plain View: The Plaster Cast Collection at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution, Lauren Kellogg DiSalvo
Falling Between the Cracks: UC Berkeley’s Plaster Casts, Stephanie Pearson
“Museum of Ancient Art” or White Elephant? The Battle Collection of Plaster Casts at the University of Texas at Austin, Adam Rabinowitz
Through Athena’s Eyes: The Henry W. Sage Collection of Casts at Cornell University, Hannah C. M. Hume
From Pillar to Post: Classical Casts at the British Museum, Emma Payne
III THE CONTINGENCIES OF VALUE
Introduction, Lorenz Winkler-Horaček
Burnt, Destroyed, Sold, Lost: The Fate of Cast Collections in the 18th and 19th Centuries, Charlotte Schreiter
What Archival Records Do or Do Not Say: The Destruction of Plaster Casts in Geneva, Clara Bolle-Fivaz
Die Abguss-Sammlungen im Museum Fridericianum und in der Gemäldegalerie Kassel, Rüdiger Splitter
Von systematischer Vernachlässigung bis absichtlicher Zerstörung: Gipsabgüsse in Jenaer und Wiener Antikensammlungen im 20. Jahrhundert, Hadwiga Schörner
IV THE CONTINGENCIES OF AUTHENTICITY
Introduction, Lorenz Winkler-Horaček
Keep the Copy! Die Gipsabguss-Sammlung der Kunsthalle im sog. Hamburger Faksimile-Streit, Nadine Leisner and Ulfert Oldewurtel
Verkauft, verschenkt, zerstört. Vergessen? Die Frankfurter Abguss-Sammlung(en): Versuch einer Rekonstruktion, Britta Rabe
The Fate of the Berlin Plaster Cast Collections: From Veneration to Destruction, Defacement, and Disposal, Lorenz Winkler-Horaček
Smashing Casts: Replication of Scottish Early Medieval Sculpture as a Case Study on the Fragility of Value, Sally Foster
V REVOLUTION AND ICONOCLASM
Introduction, Annetta Alexandridis and Lorenz Winkler-Horaček
Destruction of Plaster Casts in Workshops and Collections of Important French Institutions in the 19th and 20th Centuries, Christiane Pinatel
The Fate of Cast Collections in French Education: Between Destruction and Abandonment, Soline Morinière
“A Rampage by Vandals”: The History and Destruction of the Plaster Casts of the National College of Art and Design of Ireland, Michael Ann Bevivino
Models for Eternity: The Changing Role of Plaster Casts at The Maryland Institute, Joseph J. Basile
VI ENVOIS
‘Classical’ Plaster Casts in Enlightenment and Colonialist Discourses on Race, Annetta Alexandridis
Destroy the Copy? Destroy the Copy! A History of (Non-)appreciation, Lorenz Winkler-Horaček
Notes
[1] Museum and university collections represented are Aberdeen Museum and Art Gallery; University of Texas at Austin; Maryland Institute College of Art; University of California Berkeley; Berlin (Akademie der Künste, Königliche Museen [Neues Museum], Universität; Copenhagen (Royal Cast Collection); National College of Art and Design of Ireland; Dundee Free Library; Edinburgh (Royal Scottish Museum, National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland); Frankfurt/Main Universität; Geneva (Arts Society Collection and School of Industrial Art Collection); Glasgow Kelvingrove Museum; Hamburg Kunsthalle; Cornell University; Jena (Archäologisches Museum der Universität); Kassel Fridericianum; British Museum; Paris (Louvre, Musée des Monuments Français, École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts); Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago; Tokyo School of the Fine Arts; Smithsonian Natural History Museum; Wien (Akademie der bildenden Künste, Archäologische Sammlung der Universität.