Arthur S. Mole (1889-1983) & John D. Thomas (photographers)
Patriotic Bird's-eye View Group Photographs
Mole & Thomas, Chicago, Illinois: 1918-19
Black and white photographs
Sizes vary as shown above
Prices vary, $500 to $1,500, as shown above
Patriotic Bird's-eye Military Group Photographs
Mole & Thomas, Chicago: c. 1918-19
Mole & Thomas, Chicago: c. 1918-19
{title} ({date})
{imagedim} {overalldim}
Sold
{description}
{condition}
Details of two of the photos show the clever placement of soldiers wearing different colored clothing to create recognizable images when seen from above.
Selection of aerial view photographs of military personnel in formations. They are by Mole & Thomas, a Chicago firm famous for their grand patriotic bird's-eye group shots at military bases after World War I, in which they organized astonishing numbers of people to form designs they called "Living Emblems." Between 9,000 and 30,000 military personnel, dressed in light or dark clothing according to the requirements of the design, were positioned to form recognizable patriotic illustrations when seen from above. The subjects include the American eagle, a stars and stripes shield, the emblem of the United States Marines, the Statue of Liberty, a profile portrait of President Woodrow Wilson, who guided the nation through World War I, and others. Each photo is inscribed with a title giving the subject; number of enlisted men, officers and nurses participating; and the name and location of the base, and its commanding officer. Sometimes buildings and tents on the base can be seen in the background. These designs are remarkable inasmuch as they were not based on simple grids, but involved arranging the people in curving lines, leaving spaces between rows to form shadows, or having them wear hats or not, to create the shading and subtleties of an actual drawing.
Arthur S. Mole was a British-born commercial photographer who worked in Zion, Illinois. During and shortly after World War I, Mole traveled with his partner John D. Thomas from one military camp to another, posing thousands of soldiers to form gigantic patriotic symbols that they photographed from above. The formations depicted such images as the Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty, the Marine Corps emblem and a portrait of President Woodrow Wilson. The Wilson portrait, for example, was formed using 21,000 officers and men at Camp Sherman in Ohio and stretched over 700 feet. The "Human Liberty Bell" was composed from over 25,000 soldiers, arranged with Mole's characteristic attention to detail to even depict the crack in the bell. Mole and Thomas spent a week or more preparing for these immense works, which were taken from a 70- or 80-foot tower with an 11- by- 14-inch view camera. When the demand for these photographs dropped in the 1920s, Mole returned to his photography business in Zion. Photographs by Mole and Thomas are in the collections of the Chicago Historical Society, the Museum of Modern Art and the Library of Congress.
Full publication information: Mole & Thomas, 915 Medinah Building, Chicago, Illinois.
Condition varies, as shown above in the information accompanying individual photos.
References:
Jensen, Oliver. America's Yesterdays -- Images of Our Lost Past Discovered in the Photographic Archives of The Library of Congress. New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc., 1978, pp. 248-49.
"Arthur S. Mole." The Heartland Project: Illusions of Eden. http://www.illusionsofeden.org/photographer/mole.html (18 March 2003).
Collins, Dan. "Anamorphosis and the Eccentric Observer (Parts 1 and 2)." Leonardo Vol. 25, No. 1 and 2, 1992. Online at Arizona State University. http://www.asu.edu/cfa/art/people/faculty/collins/Anamorph.html (18 March 2003).