Characteristic of the network The Transatlantic Design Network was composed of several unique, identifying factors: the introduction of newly- nationalised ‘American’ individuals and their associated interests, professionally-driven travel, and the extension of communication and exchange beyond initial, transitory meetings and social engagements. As evidenced by the Republic of Letters, several independent European mail systems were established in the sixteenth century and the increased frequency of centralised mail systems in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries bolstered letter writing. These systems, however, could rarely be trusted for either discretion or delivery. As maritime travel improved, more noncommercial ships crossed the Atlantic therefore more letters were exchanged through personal conveyance that, unlike the mail systems, ensured transfer and timely delivery while simultaneously reinforcing professional connections and social circles. Consequently, the architectural Republic of Letters, unlike the preceding Enlightenment-era Republic of Letters, was composed of more diverse European and North American constituents. The members of the network, therefore, became rich resources for obtaining and disseminating information and, therefore, it was important for select visualisations of the Transatlantic Design Network to display where any key figures met, began cycles of exchange, and encountered common associates. Unlike a conventional timeline, this geographical timeline, tracing date in the ‘x’ or horizontal axis and place in the ‘y’ or vertical axis, allows the activities and travels of the contemporaries to be read in parallel, identifying both shared and divergent paths of travel as well as points of contact. Through the dramatic vertical rises and falls, representing transatlantic and intercontinental travel, this time line clearly shows Jefferson’s transience in comparison to the localised European travels of Cosway and the even more limited travels of Soane. 2 Initially, Jefferson, Soane, and Cosway were selected as formative figures for the study of the Transatlantic Design Network because of their triangulated correspondence and due to the way that they were characterised by some of their contemporaries in letters and descriptions. The generalisations often used in discussions between Jefferson, Soane, Cosway and their peers disclose many of the presumptions and societal conditions that existed in the transatlantic world and contextualise the cartoons in newspapers and flyers from 1750s to early 1800s that played to caricatures of the Englishman, the American, and the Female. In the case of the selected triumvirate, the caricatures had some merit. Jefferson was labeled ‘the noble savage’, a common stereotype for Americans in Europe, initially perpetuated by Franklin as noted by Flavell (2010:189). In truth, Jefferson was raised in the country and was leery of both big cities and big government. As a plantation owner he also embodied the contradictory nature of many of his revolutionary peers who fought for national freedom while profiting as life-long slaveholders. Soane’s professional and social ambitions inspired the critique among certain Royal Academy colleagues that he was a social climber this was perpetuated in the satirical poems of the Observer and the reviews of the Examiner. 2 As evidenced in the images following, the dense, linear information from these graphics is very difficult to display within the constraints of a typical, printed page. Consequently, many of the images featured in this paper have been made available online for closer inspection (http://www.archdsw.com/ transatlantic-design-network-1768-1836.html).
One significant precedent for the dissection of pre-modern international communication as a means of theoretical discourse and exchange is the Republic of Letters. This was a period of communication and intellectual dissemination that blossomed during the Renaissance, concurrent with the new affordability and availability of paper in the 1500s. 1 Through the transactions of social and institutional networks, as well as interpersonal connections, participants within the Republic of Letters often corresponded with individuals they never met: they operated within an intellectual community of epistles. The culture of the Republic of Letters highlighted the European interchange of information that eventually spread veins of communication to other parts of the world via trade routes and colonisation. Additionally, the Republic of Letters illustrated the Janus-faced nature of Enlightenment. In An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689), John Locke wrote that enlightenment was a product of both the introspective act known as a ‘talk with oneself’ as well as interpersonal discourse.
The use of epistles Letter writing was a means of gathering one’s thoughts,
disseminating those thoughts, and establishing a dialogue that, unlike diary writing, could be directly challenged and influenced by others. Correspondence frequently triangulated conversations since it was desirable to send letters through personal conveyance: by transferring a letter from author to recipient, the person delivering the note was often provided with a letter of introduction and consequentially benefited from access to new organisations, sites and networks. Additionally, epistles from prominent figures were often printed in newspapers and leaflets; letters weren’t necessarily private. For many authors, this was actually advantageous for broadening international discourses. It is important to note that the epistles sampled for this study were not always transmitted transatlantically: sometimes they travelled within the same country, or even the same city, but their authors had knowledge of and experiences with both sides of the ‘Western Ocean’, the Euro-centric term often used to refer to the Atlantic Ocean. Over 2,000 letters were consulted in the research and this sampling of documentary evidence was initially defined by correspondence between Jefferson, Soane, and Cosway. The sample was then expanded to include correspondence between figures that knew at least two members of the triumvirate or were directly engaged in conversations with Jefferson, Soane or Cosway about the arts, travel and educational practices. Of this larger sampling of letters, a little over 500 were selected as representative conversations within the network in terms of their focus on the means of cultivating architectural taste, the relationship between buildings, people the design process, and the nature and scope of travel needed to broaden one’s visual and experiential catalogue. These letters were used to study and map trends within the network. They were also beneficial for the identification of eighteen figures from America and Europe, in addition to Jefferson, Soane and Cosway, who helped delineate the nature and composition of the Transatlantic Design Network. These figures were not selected because they were the most prolific correspondents of Jefferson, Soane or Cosway but rather because of the ways they interacted: what they sent to each other, where they travelled, who they provided letters of introduction to, and how their contributions in design, education, curation, or even law may have impacted the forms, collections and architectural thinking at contemporary sites such as Jefferson’s Monticello and Soane’s Museum.
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