Cultural Relativity as Exchange: J.W. Lindt’s Colonial man and Aborigine image

from the GRAFTON ALBUM (circa 1872):

Introduction

Colonial representations about culture reflect and influence our perceptions even as artefacts. Under scrutiny here is an image from one of J.W. Lindt’s Albums of Australian Aboriginals, a still-intact album of photographs given to the mayor of Grafton, Tomas Page, circa 1872 when Lindt was resident therei. I have given the original untitled image the notional title of Colonial man and Aborigine. ii

Lindt spent a year travelling southern Australia on his arrival in 1861 and five years in Grafton as an apprentice in Conrad Wagner’s photographic studio. Lindt’s education and understanding of the arts was already liberal and Wagner, dubbed “our local Raphael”iii by the Grafton paper, extended his skills. Lindt’s temperament was sociable, energetic, and discerning, a crucible for both observing and interpreting culture. That Lindt had the artistic understanding to construct an image such as Colonial Man and Aborigine as a symbolic reference to culture is quite certain. That his cultural relativity may have provided the inclination is suggested here.

The Photographic Art

According to Gross, “in order for a researcher to decide whether an interpretation is… inferential (the observer is assessing the event as "art"--a symbolic event), one needs to know the grounds on which the conclusions would be justified. …we might say that we know it because we are assuming the event was made to happen that way in order to tell us something (communicational inference). iv For the purposes of interpretation, the context of Lindt’s work can reliably establish that his primary purpose was one of artistic practice. Indeed, Lindt’s carte d’visite mount proclaims, “Home’s chief adornment And life’s fairest grace Is Art, and therefore give it honoured place. On chemistry and optics, All does not depend; Art must with these, In triple union blend”.

Figure 1 J.W. Lindt’s Collins St. photographic mounting card

The list of his wares includes “Album of Australian Aboriginals” and “Genre Pictures of Bush Characters” that he started while in Grafton, which gives his work some ethnographic overtones. Images were certainly “selected from Mr. Lindt’s studio at Grafton, and others were “photographs of aboriginals, taken for Signor D’Albertus, an Italian naturalist now on a visit to this district” (Clarence and Richmond Examiner, 8 December, 1874), but we need to be reminded that the differentiation between artistry and documentary had not yet been clearly established, and artistry was the predominant mode of working. To aim for a type, a generality, rather than individuality, was standard practice for art photography and it was from here that Lindt took his cues for his “Genre pictures” and “Australian Aboriginals”.v

In Lindt’s time, the act of artmaking was not so categorically distinguished from the act of photographing, where one (art) is intentionally symbolic and the other (photography) is not. Even contemporarily, “A portrait clearly is an event that is not the "real thing," but it is clearly as if it is the real thing”. vi Within the paradigm of photography in 1870, spectators perceived studio illusion and generic subjects as the real thing. According to a local review, “They represent very faithfully aboriginals, male and female, of all ages, as the traveller finds them in the wilds, and not as if prepared for portraiture” (Clarence and Richmond Examiner, 8 December, 1874). The symbolic gestures (art) reflected and constructed real experience. “Lindt used techniques which derived from traditional European painting practices and which were then common in portrait photography. …The landscape or interior background on to which the figures were later superimposed gave added information, expressed either overtly or symbolically”vii. Even with his equipment, Lindt references art: “J.W. Lindt begs to inform his friends and the public that he has now received, ex ship Nourmahal, the new instruments and chemicals he expected from Europe, and which have been selected for him by first-class artists” (Clarence and Richmond Examiner, 10 January, 1871).

Reconciliatory symbolism in Colonial Man and Aborigine

“One should distinguish between the photograph as a record about culture and the photograph as a record of culture… in the hands of well-trained observers, [photography] has become a tool for recording, not the truth of what is out there, but the truth about what is in there”… [ in the mind]viii. However random the act, photographing is to a degree a reflection about what is in the mind of the photographer, but the degree of intentionality and purpose may be hard to determine. Still, to be assured of a reasonable analysis, “…only when an interpretive strategy assumes that production and transmission are articulatory and intentional can communicational meaning be inferred”ix. We can start our assumption of intentionality with the procedures that Lindt employed in his studio set-up. “The new studio is built on the most approved principle, and is replete in every modern improvement and perfect arrangement for regulating light and shade. …I shall call into requisition, Retouching the negative, Tinting and Colouring the finished print, as well as Combination printing and Natural clouds and sky effects in Landscape; in short, all the possible means to enhance the beauty, Value and Durability of the pictures” (Clarence and Richmond Examiner, 18 March, 1873). In carefully studying his photographs of Aborigines, it is clear that he enhanced the definition of dark facial features by adding a few dabs and stippled lines of blockout with a tiny brush on the back of the negative plate before printing. Very similar treatment of lips, noses and cheekbones can be detected throughout his collection, and are apparent in the image of Colonial Man and Aborigine.

There are a few repeats of the elaborately painted backdrops in the Grafton album and it is likely that several of the sittings were carried out at the same time. Do we then assume that the images in the album are intentionally variations on a theme? In most cases, they appear to be so. There are repetitive poses with a revolving selection of generic artifacts. A woven fishing trap appears in many of the images, as do boomerangs and a wooden shield. Weapons such as a spear and a wooden bludgeon or club appear in several images. A dingo-tail headdress appears in three of the images, twice on women and once on a man. A metal axe is present in the hand of an Aboriginal man and woman in two separate images, and once lying on the ground. The same Aborigine in the Colonial Man and Aborigine image appears three times. We can tell it is the same man by his facial features, his hair and beard, the scarring and slight deformity in the bone structure of his leg, as well as scars on his arm and shoulder. In one image, the Aborigine is seated on the same canvas covered seat, or ‘rock’, holding a woven fishing trap. Beside him are a shield and two boomerangs. These artifacts are clearly indigenous. In the other image, he is holding a rifle.

What is significant about Colonial Man and Aborigine is that it sets a new theme. The image is the only image with a Caucasian person in the Grafton Album and one of the few such images in Lindt’s entire output. It articulates new meanings and invites speculation on its intentionality, which I have termed reconciliatory.

Figure 2 J.W. Lindt, untitled photograph, circa 1872. Collection of Clarence River Historical Society, Grafton, NSW

Lindt may have settled their gazes to prevent movement, but the Colonial man is looking fixedly into the distance stage right and the Aboriginal man is looking into the camera lens, a direct gaze to the spectator. His look is sanguine, not apprehensive. The arrangement of the figures is necessarily intentional, but even if it were collaborative, as Coleman claims with Curtis, our interpretation would not alter overall. x In fact, collaboration would confirm a reconciliatory perspective.

Descriptively, the Colonial man is seated on a raised canvas ‘rock’ and the Aborigine is on the ground, with his head leaning upon the leg of the other. There is a saddle and bridle on one side of them, resting against a silky oak ‘tree’, and what appears to be a pipe with a tobacco tin and a stockman’s whip on the ground to the left. The colonial man has a leather container slung over his shoulder and he holds a spear. The Aborigine holds a rifle, yet he arrangement of the figures implies no confrontation between them. Interpretively, the relationship between the two men in the image has some aspects that are conventional and some aspects that are not conventional. As Sol Worth says, “It puts things together both as they are and as they are not”. Such contradiction is described as a visual metaphor, “where we understand metaphor as a formal device or structure demanding some kind of active interpretive behavior”xi. What is conventional is that the Aborigine is in a diminutive position compared to the Colonial man. The contradiction starts with the implied closeness between them, with the Aborigine’s head resting against the other man’s leg. Even contemporarily, this would be an unconventional occurrence. The relational pose is equivocal, implying subservience, but also mateship.

The contradiction is clear with the position of the main weapons where the normal conventions are reversed; the Aboriginal man has the rifle (non-indigenous), and the colonial man the spear (indigenous). In view of the album image of the same Aboriginal man with the same rifle, we may think of the image under scrutiny as a variation on a theme. If so, the Aborigine may be a carrier, or assistant, or even a tracker with ownership or authority to carry arms or that the two men share one weapon. However, with a second weapon present and the reversal of convention it illustrates, the image demands active interpretation as metaphor and the notion of exchange is especially apt. Exchange may refer to the sharing of skills and increasing the repertoire of tools, in which case the image communicates a sense of cooperation. Spears may be superior to the job in some circumstances. Reciprocally, rifles. Both implements are used in hunting, an activity pursued by both colonial and indigenous communities. Additional information given by the saddle, bridle and whip suggests that there is an enterprise afoot and the work is shared. The outlook of both men is away from the river behind, as if they have already travelled together for some distance. However, at the level of weaponry and relative technologies, where spears and rifles are used in violent confrontation, the interpretation of the image could be considered reconciliatory. The exchange of each other’s weapons underscores a reversal of advantage, which in the benign setting before us evokes a sense of equality and trust.

Outsider and Insider

Establishing Lindt as an outsider in Australian culture is relatively easy. Lindt initially went to Grafton because of its German community. An account in the September 17, 1903 edition of The Grafton Argus entitled “An Old Identity: Mr J.W. Lindt F.R.G.S. revisits the Clarence after an absence of 20 years” outlines “This gentleman first came to the district in 1861 in the schooner Perseverance landing at Kirchnerstadt’s factory wharf shortly after the original German settlement broke up, and its members were left to their own devices to make their living in Australia. …On arrival at Grafton, Mr. Lindt joined Mr. Conrad Wagner, who originally came out in charge of the little colony of German artisans and established a soap and candleworks and sawmill at Kirchnerstadt, which came to grief owing to the want of unity of purpose between the original proprietors Messers. Sharpe and Kirchner.” (Grafton Argus, September 17, 1903). During the period just prior to the creation of Colonial man and Aborigine, Lindt travelled back to Europe and was away from Australia for eleven months. His “strong desire to see the old country” was thwarted (Grafton Argus, September 17, 1903) when his parents and he agreed that the best thing was for him to not return ‘home’ to Germany due to the impending war draft that he would face, but to return to Australia, this time laden with photographic gear as a migrant. His working temperament was Germanic, developing a high level of craftsmanship. As Lindt himself said, his intention was “to deliver none but blameless photographs” (Clarence and Richmond Examiner, 10 January, 1871). His character revealed a somewhat elevated sense of position, in spite of and throughout his expeditions. He appears to have a critical nature, as evidenced by many anecdotes of his life, which he no doubt used to interpret the culture around him.

Establishing Lindt as an insider in Australian culture is a more subtle operation, although the obvious fact is that he became a naturalised British citizen in 1876 and had lived and worked in Grafton for eleven years when he made the album in question. He also had to know enough as an insider to be successful in a culturally based business such as portrait photography and would undoubtedly have been aware of the prevailing attitudes towards Aborigines found in the mainstream culture of Grafton, attitudes that clearly show up in the publicity of his work. … “the faces of the women are scarcely calculated to make a favourable impression on the nobles of Victor Emmanuel’s court, or cause them to set out on a pilgrimage to the land of beef and mutton to obtain a smile from the fascinating but frail ladies that owe allegiance to King Harry- the reigning monarch of Swan Creek” (Clarence and Richmond Examiner, 12 August, 1873). Likewise: “Mr. Lindt can be complimented upon the artistic use he has made of the rugged subjects he has had at his disposal” (Clarence and Richmond Examiner, 8 December, 1874). The undertone of ridicule and racism can be found in many such documents, but as actions they are relatively benign in light of the dispersal history of the area. Lindt perceived but did not actively participate in such antagonistic sentiments. If he had, his ability to do the work he did would have been diminished. His stated position when he joined an expedition to Papua New Guinea in 1885 was that the natives understood his desire to make them immortal through his imagesxii. Some of this lofty attitude had surely been developing during the time of his work with the Grafton Aborigines.

If hegemony is to be undermined, outsiders accelerate it and migrants are quintessential outsiders. Yet to be effective and interpretable, exchange necessitates an insider perspective. The migrant equally has the potential to be such. Exchange occurs where there is enough understanding of insider perspectives to bridge the known and the hypothetical, to provoke imagination. Again, the migrant has the potential to establish those bridges. It is not that there is no potential for insiders to perform a bridging or exchange perspective, but they must be, relatively speaking, outside the hegemony in order to do so. A.D. Coleman has hypothesised that a key concept of the artist/photographer’s role is one of perturbation, a disturbance caused by secondary influence.xiii Imaging the non-conventional is effective perturbation. The circulation and familiarity of the image is unknown, but it seems unlikely that many in the mainstream are familiar with it compared to other iconic Australian images. The opportunity to revisit and examine Lindt’s image in more detail has been an opportunity to reopen the exchange.

Bibliography

Coleman, A.D., Art and Perturbation. (Unpublished manuscript, 2005)

Coleman, A.D., “The Photographer as Ethnologist”, Katalog, 5,4 (1993):25-35

Gross, L., Introduction: Sol Worth and the Study of Visual Communication. Last modified 2006 http://astro.temple.edu/~ruby/wava/worth/sintro.html

Jones, S., J.W Lindt, Master Photographer. (South Yarra; Curry O’Neill Ross Pty Ltd. 1985) la Grange, A., Basic Critical Theory for Photographers. (Boston, Focal Press, 2005)

Lindt, J. W., Picturesque New Guinea. (London, Longmans, 1887)

Mathews, R.H., Notes on the Aborigines of New South Wales. Last modified 1907 http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Notes_on_the_Aborigines_of_New_South_Wales

Smith, B., European Vision and the South Pacific 1768-1850: A study in the History of Art and Ideas. (Oxford, Melbourne Universiy Press, 1960)

Worth, S. and Gross, L. P., Studying visual communication. (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981)

Endnotes

i The album referred to here as “The Grafton Album” is now in the collection of the Grafton Historical Society, Shaeffer House, Grafton. http://www.clarencehistory.org.au ii The title “Bush Characters” is used by Lindt for his genre albums. For the purposes of interpretation, the distinction is that the man in the image is representative of colonial British Australia, so Colonial Man was used rather than Bush Character. iii Jones, S., J.W Lindt, Master Photographer. (South Yarra; Curry O’Neill Ross Pty Ltd. 1985)

iv Gross, L., Introduction: Sol Worth and the Study of Visual Communication. Last modified 2006 http://astro.temple.edu/~ruby/wava/worth/sintro.html

v To aim for a type, a generality, rather than individuality, was standard for this time. “In this practice it is to be observed a further expression of that interest in types which had gained such impetus in the scientific world from the work of Carl von Linne” Lindt was part of the rule in this way, not the exception. A.D. Coleman notes that “Even up to the present day, virtually all such imagery has sought the generic rather than the idiosyncratic”. “The photographer as Ethnologist”, Katalog, 5,4 (1993): 26 vi Worth, S. and Gross, L. P., Studying visual communication. (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981) vii Jones, J.W Lindt, Master Photographer, 4 viii Worth, and Gross, Studying visual communication. ix ibid x Coleman, A.D., “The photographer as Ethnologist” 28 xi Worth and Gross, Studying visual communication xii Lindt, Picturesque New Guinea, 44 xiii Coleman, A. D., Perturbation, unpublished manuscript, 2005