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'nameless, faceless" workers in history

updated sat 29 jan 11

 

Stephani Stephenson on fri 28 jan 11


There is a far Side cartoon i always keep in my studio,(but I haven't put=
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them up yet in the new studio)

I forget the exact name of the brothers and the quip, but it is a drawing=
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of
two Italian brothers, who have just finished tiling the floor of the Sist=
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ine
Chapel.
Everybody remembers who painted the ceiling of the Sistine chapel, but=3D20=
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who remembers who made and installed the tile?

If you look at the history of Architectural ceramics, quite often we
remember the architect who designed a building. We might also remember , =
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if
we really dig, what company made the terra cotta components that clad t=
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he
entire building. But history does not remember the draftsmen,
moldmakers,moldpackers, engineers ,sculptors, masons, glazers, kilnsmen,=
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glaze chemists, etc. who made it happen and who all applied their=3D20
impressive skills to the project.
I would like to know their names. Movie credits, for example, name every=
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one
involved.=3D20

But the fact that history swallows up those names does not diminish them =
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as
people or as skilled artists, craftsmen and craftswomen, and tradesmen an=
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d
tradeswomen.
They all have and had names and they all have and had faces.