James Billings
Art & Antiques Appraisal

By Jim Billings

The Old Times , June 2007

Sauk Center, Minnesota

The United States Senate authorized a dollar coin with George Washington’s image. That was 1792. Washington, then president, reportedly disapproved and the House rejected it. Despite his wishes, Washington has circulated on the paper dollar since 1869, the “quarter” since 1932. Now in 2007, we have Washington on the dollar coin – stylized, stern, and heroic.

Dollar coins are coming big time. It buys what a quarter would in 1971 when the “Ike” dollar (favorite of casinos) was first minted. Parking meters await.

The series bears images of presidents in golden copper alloy. Four a year, minted chronologically. Not the living ones, though — too monarchical. Frontal image, ¾ perspective.

The Statue of Liberty adorns the new dollar’s reverse. America’s most cherished monument, it is widely used in media, in carnivals and mass-produced kitsch, and in serious art. In God We Trust, e pluribus unum, date, and mint marks appear edge-incused to conserve space. And “$”, for the first time, appears on an America coin.

The dollar was made official American monetary unit in 1785. Prior to the dollar, American colonial money included a smorgasbord of foreign coinage, bills of exchange, bills of credit, and various commodities including tobacco leaves and wampum (beads made from shells, strung as a necklace, and value-coded by color). The English discouraged importing their coinage; The Spanish eight reales (“piece of eight”), the international silver standard, was the primary circulating coin.

“Liberty” has long represented freedom on American coinage. A bust adapted from the Roman personification of Liberty on the “heads” was first depicted as a young woman with flowing hair (1794), then with a ribbon (1795), seated holding a flag and a shield (1836-1873), more coiffured (1878-1921), a radiant bust, the “Peace Dollar” (1921-1935)

On gold dollars, Liberty appeared (1849-1854), then, ironically, an Indian princess (1854-1889). And “Liberty” was perplexing to Europeans who witnessed America’s use of slavery.

Only recently have actual persons appeared on “heads”. Eisenhower (1971-1978), Susan B. Anthony (1979-1981 & 1989), Sacagawea with infant son Jean Baptiste (2000 to present) and the new series showing presidents.

For over 200 years, the “tails” side, posed a bald eagle, a magnificent bird. It soars high while seeing great detail from afar. And fierce, if need be. The eagle is depicted variously as free standing or flying or featured on the National Seal (1798-1803). Then on the “Peace” dollar (1921-1935) the eagle rests and is accompanied by the moon on the Eisenhower dollar (1971-1974). The eagle has yielded stage to Liberty Bell (1976) and to Statue of Liberty, starting this year.

Coinage has changed little from the first comprehensive system devised by ancient Romans. An emperor’s profile adorned the “heads”; the “tails” side celebrated virtues like “Honorius”, even “Libertas”, or a military victory. This was Rome’s principle mass media. Three women, the Monetae, personified metals of coinage. These same metals have comprised American dollar coinage: Gold (1849 California gold rush until1889), silver (1794-1935), and copper alloys (from 1971.)

In early 15^th century, Henry VII changed coin portraiture from a frontal generic image to profile specific image. By this convention, Washington is depicted both as historical

person (profile on quarter), and as the nation’s father (frontally on paper dollar). President and Presidency.

And the bald eagle, became an image on heraldry, that is an image of a symbol of the nation. Then sports teams, delivery services, fraternal lodges, … Depicted on the dollar is a simulacra of imagery, that is imagery with origins mostly forgotten. Once placed in the popular domain, an image is on its own, losing site of beginnings. Reportedly, Dolly Parton entered a dolly Parton Look-Alike contest and lost.

Forgotten is the difficulty of erecting the 305 foot high monument and gathering funds from French and American citizens. Perhaps also, full recognition of Liberty’s quixotic path in both America and France, along with remembrance of mutual friendship. And of Washington’s arduous gift to American independence.

Published in The Old Times, March 2007

by Jim Billings

The Japanese nature scroll painting — ink on paper or on silk — has been preserved by a master-student tradition over centuries. Whether vertical (hanging) or horizontal (hand), the scroll may be rolled up, becoming petite, storable, and portable, freed from trouble or from oversight by authority.

Basic to this artform is good posture — artist sitting upright, while kneeling. With brush held vertically over horizontal surface, the painter delivers careful, determined strokes. The arm moves freely like a swordsman. And for best results, the painter’s mood must suit the subject’s spirit. Think like a kingfisher awaiting a frog to bludgeon. See the world from a grasshopper’s scale. Or identify with petals, which while drooping, wish to rise sunward.

Materials are sumi (pigment cake), water container, a dish to extract the pigment cake, the brush, and of course a surface of paper or silk.
Time unfolds within the composition. One tiger’s mouth will be open, its companion’s shut; one bird’s beak open, another’s closed. Flowers range from bud to decaying blossom. A bird’s flight, a frog’s, leap, a grasshopper’s spring, are implied by open spaces. Later, when viewers absorb the narrative, the poem, and examine the brushstrokes, time sustains, time stretches.

Matthew Welch, curator of Japanese and Korean Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, explains that hanging scrolls differ from hand scrolls regarding sense of time. A hanging scroll is scanned readily in a fixed position while a hand scroll, beginning on the right, opens leftward while rolled up on the right. Within this moving drama, eventually a story or poem is reached, along with artist’s seal. Occasionally, collectors’ seals and scholarly commentaries precede or follow.

When viewed at about six feet, brushstroke technique balances with overall composition. Closer viewing is needed to appreciate calligraphy, subtle details and seals.

A masterful hanging scroll at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Mori Tetsuzan’s (1775-1841) Stag, was painted circa 1815. Subtle blacks, grays, and sepias achieve dramatic effect. Sharp horns and hoofs counterpoint fur.

The stag stands facing away from viewer in contrapposto. With the prominent serpentine shaping of his back veering leftward, his head arches sharply toward the right. Eyes alert, he seems wary. His uphill stance overlooks a vast open space where soon he may run.

Lines and wash achieve the deer’s nature, his mood, his spirit. From quick to long and deliberate, a mixture of strokes reveals the stag’s ambivalence. Strokes with ample wet ink end with a dry narrow line — starting black and ending gray. Quick strokes portray fur; drops of color, the eyes. Light ambient washes create the body. Time adds wrinkles upon the paper which help to depict the landscape. The deer is a traditional Japanese symbol of longevity, (perhaps with surer expectations than in Minnesota.)

The painting is mounted on a gold brocade of silk. All surrounded by a repeated pattern of tree of life, the top and bottom have a cloud-like pattern which is repeated on the straps. Above, the mount has a vine and flower pattern on sullen blue.

For the scroll’s endurance, a box is essential. Made from acid-free cypress, it protects from puncture, from soiling, insects, and from the rollers’ weight (being supported from within). And the box will accommodate text and seals.

The sense of time within Japanese art is stretched. Like the written language, it conveys a sense of a continuous present time by combining a thing with action. Japanese characters are built upon the pictograph, often combining disparate elements to communicate action. For example, a character for “see” is represented by a stylized eye on legs, an action involving sustained movement over time. Viewing is a stretched process going from person to thing and back again.

Such art, sustained in experience, endures in memory. It calms the frenetic, and energizes the weary.

Now in March, peach and cherry blossoms!