Design for a Monument to Sailors n.d.

Editor: This is John Bacon the Younger’s “Design for a Monument to Sailors,” its exact date is unknown, rendered in pencil, pen, black chalk, graphite, and watercolor on paper. I find the imagined sculpture to be grand, though it only exists on paper. What are your thoughts on this work? Curator: The most striking element is the layering of production here. We have a drawing *of* a sculpture, immediately distancing us from direct material engagement, which is interesting considering this commemorates laborers – sailors. The drawing, though masterful, is one step removed from the labor it seeks to memorialize, obscuring the very hands that braved the seas. Editor: I see what you mean. It's like the actual sailors are being filtered through layers of artistic interpretation. So, what purpose might this distancing serve, especially considering the social context of its creation? Curator: Perhaps this elevation is a function of class. Note the fine materials: pencil, watercolor, skilled draftsmanship – signifying a separation from the harsh realities of seafaring. It romanticizes their labor, presenting it through an idealized Neoclassical lens – notice the allegorical figures, the restrained emotion, the calculated composition. Where are the visible marks of making that would show the process of labor? Editor: That makes a lot of sense. The process of creating the drawing seems to mirror a kind of societal filtering of experience, making it more palatable for perhaps a non-sailoring class? The materiality itself, therefore, participates in the message. Curator: Precisely. Think about where this monument *would* have been placed, and *for whom.* The material choices – the deliberate distancing from tactile reality – speak volumes about the intended audience and the message being carefully crafted. The drawing acts as a sort of prospectus appealing to people to create a monumental structure celebrating labor, but sanitizing its hardship through craft. Editor: It's fascinating to consider how the very materials and artistic process contribute to the monument’s message, almost obscuring the reality it aims to celebrate. I appreciate that different take.