The painter is absent

14 Pages·2017·9.94 MB·English

The Painter Is Absent:
Ivar Arosenius and the Site-Specific
Archaeo-Archival Reconstruction of the Ghost of a Home
by Jonathan Westin & Dick Claesson
"As WITH THE UNKNOWABJLJTY of the Ding an Swedish painter Carl Larsson and his wife Karin
sich, the inaccessibility of the actual past repre Larsson installed a large studio window in their
sents a significant limitation and barrier, but by once-modest cottage at Lilla Hyttnas in Sund
no means a ruinous one. The historian and the born. This occasion marked the end of the first
archaeo-historicist are left to practice their craft phase of rebuilding and expansion at Sundborn;
on traces of a vanished past."' through the publication of illustrated books and
magazines, the idyll that the Larssons created
rapidly became a icon of romanticized home
Introduction
building and domestic bliss, coupled with the
During the late hours of the first day of 1909, promise of artistic potential. Arosenius - and
the Swedish painter lvar Arosenius (1878-1909) others - paid close attention.
succumbed to haemophilia. He died a young The Arts and Crafts movement in general,
man, on the brink of recognition, fame and do and the work of William Morris in particular,
mestic bliss. Leaving his young wife and infant was a significant inspiration for this sudden at
daughter behind at their home in Alvangen, tention to the artistic potential of the old, tradi
north of Gothenburg, he also left a vast body tional homestead of bygone days. The home be
of work which has continued to attract critical came a canvas on which the artist could - quite
as well as popular attention . Visiting the site of literally, in fact - inscribe his or her ideals of
his home today, more than a century later, no creativity and tradition. Combining the roman
trace of either the house or the garden remains ticized mythology of the farmer and his ascetic
to remind the casual visitor of the significance yet spiritually meaningful family life with the vi
of the place. This was, after all, where Arose brant colours and clear lines of medieval art,
nius lived between 1907 and 1909, transform painters like Arosenius could fuse the ideals of
ing a simple cottage into a quiet, rural retreat the past with those of the twentieth century -
- creating a backdrop for a significant part of his and with modernity. Transforming the homes
substantial production - and at the same time and landscapes of old allowed a palimpsest of
making great artistic progress. At the time of his past and present to emerge. Both Arosenius and
death, he had already reshaped the landscape Larsson in effect attempted to reconstruct what
through the medium of art, using the river val they viewed as an integral part of the idea of the
ley and the surroundin g hills as a mythological countryside - but it was a reconstruction based
setting, populating it with trolls, fairies, and bac on the schematics of myth and legend, on wild
chanalian revelry.2 Arosenius was not alone in interpretations of use and tradition, and also on
making his modest home a source of inspira an idealized image of the authenticity of the life
tion and expression. In 1899, ten years prior, the and customs of the countryside.
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THE PAINTER IS ABSENT
FIGURE 1: The site of Arosenius' home in November 2m6 . Beyond the muddy field left by the bulldozers, and
the last remains of the overgrown hawthorn hedge, Kattleberg, present in many of Arosenius' paintings, domi
nates the skyline. PHOTO : Dick Claesson.
During the years and decades following his the Ivar Arosenius Archive at the University Li
death, Arosenius' posthumous reputation grew, brary in Gothenburg, the project has established
and his artworks achieved national as well as a platform for collecting the digitized material
international recognition. Today, he is regarded from several additional archives, both public
as a major Swedish painter, a fact belied by the and private, into a whole. Here, both well-and
site of his old homestead (figure r). To turn this lesser-known works, as well as documents that
bleak prospect of rural entropy and collapsed ag have until now remained largely forgotten, are
ricultural economics into anything even remote made readily available. The small piece of land
ly interesting, let alone into a place of historical in Alvangen finds itself at the centre of this new
importance reflecting its significance, takes an archiving process, as much of the material was
equal effort of imagination and of translating produced there during Arosenius' last two years.
what remains of the site into a coherent space. Letters, sketches, and paintings - all tell the tale
Archives have to be activated, stories have to be of Arosenius' life and work in Alvangen. Arte
collected and collated, new paths have to be facts of a more ephemeral nature, such as lo
cleared through the undergrowth. cal anecdotes passed down through the genera
The Arosenius Project, founded by the Royal tions, also provide materials for a more detailed
Swedish Academy of Letters, History and An and thorough understanding of the artist's life.
tiquities together with the Bank of Sweden The home in Alvangen is thus the locus of both
Tercentenary Foundation, involves a number the art and the life that the archive tries to repre
of department s and divisions at the University sent. Now, however, nothing remains of the site
of Gothenburg as well as the Swedish Nationa l itself. The trees, bushes, and scrub have been
Museum in Stockholm and the Museum of Art cut down and bulldozers have erased the last
in Gothenburg. Building on the foundations of features of the land. A carwash is to replace the
BEBYGGELSEHISTORISK TIDSKRIFT 73/ 2017 II7
JONATHAN WEST IN & DICK CLAESSON
remnants of Arosenius' home3. Hence, just as a dearth of information : archives and memory
interest in the artist blossoms, the site-specific are never sufficient . Digitally reconstructing
archive that is Arosenius' Alvangen - the lost Arosenius' home is the active part of what Favro
ruins of the artist's home and sterbezimmer - is calls a knowledge representa tion5: it is not only
threatened by archival amnesia. a visual manifestation of the physical and digi
Drawing on an interventional research in tal archive docum entation, but also a process of
vestigation into Arosenius' home, this article knowledge acquisition and evaluation . Hence,
frames the act of digitally recons tructing a site reconst ruction is a research method that begins
as an iterative research method of enquiry and not with answers, but with a series of questions .
translation between different media - an act that In fact, as Murte ira et al. point out6, the process
allows heterogeneous materials to be simultane of extracting information from a model being
ously collected, studied, and processe d. Built on developed constitutes knowledge acquisition by
source material consisting of archival photos, lo itself, and is, as such, also an important research
cal stories, historic maps, paintings, 3D-scanned result by itself.
artefacts, sound recordings, inventories of the Scientific visualisation emerged in the fif
belongings of the artist and his family, and teenth century as an important method through
surveys of the vegetation on his property, the which to record findings from exped itions in far
digital reconstruc tion process es all the material away places, in essence making these findings
pertain ing to this particular part of the artist's 'mobile' by turning them into inscriptions that
life. We argue that the act of reconst ruction al could be brought back home, be shared and ana
lows us to trace materials otherwise overlooked, lysed7. In the nineteent h century, at a time when
and to both study and question the archive in traditional scientific illustration was becoming
new ways. The reconstruction of Arosenius's increasingly abstrac t and restrained in style,
last home is the archaeo-archival embodiment the reconstruction drawing, at first in the fields
of the archiving process. of palaeonto logy and geology but soon there
after in prehistoric archaeology as well, gained
ground as an unparalleled technique to lend life
Lost and Found:
and context to scientific findings8• This develop
The Process of Reconstruction
ment was echoed in the steady increase in mate
On the 6th of April 1973, in a newspape r article rial reconstruct ions of monuments and sires, a
describing the house as a stain on the memory practice that during the twentieth centur y gave
of a singular artist, director Adlerbert - at that rise to a number of charters drafted to offer
time the owner of the propert y - is quoted as counsel - includin g the Athens Charter (1931),
saying that following not only repeated attempts the Venice Charter (1964), The Florence Charter
at selling the house and grounds, but also a dis (1981), the Dresden Declaratio n on Reconstruc
couraging investigation into the possibility of tion (1982), the Nara Document on Authent ic
performing substant ial reconstruct ion work, the ity (1994), and the Krakow Charter (2000). In
house would be torn down the very same year'. response to a perceived acceleratio n on a global
Due to this decision, following decades of ne scale in the use of reconstruct ions, both physical
glect, the house and the layout of the grounds, and digital, in 2012 the International Council on
with their root cellar, barn, outhouse, and a viv Museums and Sites (ICOMOS) commiss ioned a
idly decorated gazebo, are now lost (figure 2). survey to chart professional attitudes towards
Today, the small piece of land on the outskirts this practice, and also to assess how the recon
of Alvangen is marked with no more than the structio ns relate to the recommendations laid
rectangu lar shape of the lines of dense trees out in the charters, all of which urge caution
and brush that have claimed the space in the and restraint 9• As the Venice Charter puts it, 'all
painter's absence. reconst ruction work should however be ruled
The act of reconstruction will always reveal out a priori. Only anastylosis, that is to say, the
II8
BEBYGGELSEHISTORISK TIDSKRIFT 73/ 2017
THE PAINTER IS ABSENT
~~~"-~- \
.
.:1/
FIGURE 2. One of the last photos of the house before it was torn down in 1973-PHOTO: Lars Soderbom. From
the photographic archive of Goteborgs-Posten at Kamerareportage.
reassembling of existing but dismembered parts there is far less use of visualisations when the
can be permitted.''0 subject is theoret ical'3. Howeve r, if these disci
The charters argue that reconstru ctions raise plines were accustomed to the visualisation of
concerns of historical validity as they present ideas they might, as Favro puts it, 'supplant the
persuasive and strong interpretations that are axiom "to see is to believe" with "to see is to
almost impossible to 'un-know', while at the question'"'4, paving the way for a more con
same time turnin g the process of their construc structive approach to visual representations.
tion opaque. Hence, whether physical or digital, A reconstruction moves us simultaneously
while being a synthesis of information, a recon farther away and closer to the primary sources
struction might also be described as a dialysis upon which the reconstruction is built - away
as it separa tes the unwanted or unkn own from from the sources, as they are the result of an in
the construction, and reduces complex associa terpretation and as such are perceived by many
tions and interdependencies to an ordered, and scholars as losing the inherent validity of the
fictitious, whole". Hence, reconstructions are material remains upon which they are based15,
never neutral: by default, certain properties are and closer to those sources, since a reconstruc
inscribed into the reconstruction itself. If the tion can bring the primary sources to life and
reconstruction is allowed to become a part of place them in a context where furth er theories
the idea of the place, these properties are made and hypotheses can be explored'6. Still, as Silber
durable by being translated into a seemingly ma man notes, reconstructions are in some quarters
terial form, as seeing is often believing" . While 'frow ned upon as inherently inauthentic imita
the sciences make extensive use of images, simu tions of real monuments (i.e those that have sur
lations, and reconstructions to present ideas, vived the test of time)''7•
in archaeology and other historical disciplines The ICOMOS survey puts physical and digital
BEBYGGELS EHISTORISK TIDSKRIFT 73/ 2017 Il9
JONA THAN WESTIN & DICK CLAESSON
reconstru ctions on an equal footin g, only noting cost of producin g them, have seen use as re
that physical reconstructions can be more inva search tools through which to test hypotheses
sive 'and damaging to the surviving original fab and visualize interpretation s.
ric of archaeological or historical sites"18• How Despite this, and equally applicable to both
ever, the unvoiced presumption which positions physical and digital reconstructions, the gen
a reconstruction as a physical public manifesta erally used definition of reconstruction as the
tion - an object that is brought forth as a repre representation of a lost physical reality, ignores
sentation of missing matter rather than being an the active proce ss of making a reconstruction .
ongoing scientific proce ss - is not changed from In our use of the word, the recon struction of
the Venice Charter that precedes the ICOMOS Arosenius' home is an action, not an artefact.
survey by half a century. The result of the survey, The act of reconstructing, closer to the defini
however, is more telling: while only n% of the tion of reconstruction as an 'action or process'
physical reconstructions appear to have had re rath er than 'a thing that has been rebuilt'20 is
,
search as a rationale or function (favouring tour a process through which to assemble stepping
ism and site developm ent at no less than 65%), stones for other processes and actants leading
the virtual reconstruct ions favour research as a to insights about sources, context, and place
rationale for their existence at 42%. The survey oth erwise overlooked21• As an active process,
thus reflects that while digital reconstructi ons the reconstruction of the site is both a prod
have found promin ent use within humanities re uct and a means of productivity, as the pract ice
search'9 and have facilitated critical discussions embodies a transformative dimension22 Recon
•
on the application of digital tools within the struction is a visual representation practice, and
context of heritage management, they are still like any other it is not only a crucial step in the
seldom deployed in situ - through augmented dissemination of results, but also plays a cen
reality, projection or screen - to enhanc e a site tral role in the scientific process of developing
or monument and attract tourism. Instead, the theories, as images 'have the capacity to make
digital reconstructions, due to the relatively low knowledge'23.
Reconstructing the Lands
of Myth and Legend
While Arosenius remains firmly situated within
the confines of Swedish art history, the place
where he lived, worked and died - and where
all that promise of greatness came to climactic,
if brief, fruition - is largely forgotten. Our re
search into Arosenius' home, which took place
betwee n May 2015 and December 2016, includ
ed numerous visits in which we made use of
the digital archive to identify sightlines, founda
tions, and landmarks. Assessing the site merely
through field walking - looking for scraps of
evidence to firmly establish the boundaries of
the site, as well as the foundations of the house,
the barn and the gazebo (all parts of a typical,
FIGURE 3-Initial inventory of the vegetation and a
rough sketch of the garden. PHOTO: Dick Claesson.
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THE PAINTE R IS ABSENT
Swedish homestead of the late nineteenth cen Arosenius depicting exterior and interior views
tury) - proved difficult, as the heavy foliage and of the house and the surrounding landscape, let
thick moss camouflaged much of the remaining ters, maps, probate documents, and old survey
stones and tell-tale clusters of brick and build documents - every piece of the puzzle provided
ing debris. We needed the archival materials to yet more facets to a lost home slowly gaining a
make some sense of the place. new kind of tangibility, and familiarity, from the
Through a combinat ion of on-site surveys gradual decoding of the site. As the Florence
and studies of archival materials, we were able Charter states regarding the reconstru ction of
to plot a general outline of the historical garden; a historical garden, 'all its constituent features
we were also able to position the location of the must be dealt with simultaneously. To isolate
house itself. This was achieved by establishing the various operations would damage the unity
an inventory of the current vegetation on the of the whole'24•
site and comparing it with both digitized photos Paint fragments were collected from the soft
from the Arosenius Archive and with paintings earth - and discarded, once a closer study had
by Arosenius that are believed to depict scenes shown them to be of a later date. Shards of
from the garden and the surrounding area. pottery and porcelain, window glass fragments
These inventories were then collated to elimi and bottle glass, roof tiles, and the charred frag
nate plants, bushes, and trees dating from later ments of an eighteenth-century terracotta can
decades, and a rough sketch of the present day dlestick were salvaged from the site and added
flora as it relates to the original Arosenius site to the existing archives. Sounds of the birds
was compiled (figure 3). The old pear tree that and of the wind going through the overgrown
Arosenius planted, the hawthorn hedge framing hedges were recorded and separated from the
many of the scenes in the old photographs, the white noise of the nearby highway built in the
gooseberries, and the goat willow trees: these 1960s. The present-day skyline was documented
became living anchor points for the reconstruc by stitching together a dozen panoramic pho
tion of the site that framed the remains of the tos, which were then retouched using the county
old root cellar (another anchor point), photo
graphs from the Arosenius archive, news clip
pings in the archive of the local old homestead
museum, and a mounted colour photograph in
the museum collection. As the ever-changing
trees and hedges may be traced back in time
through the documents, providing a constant
backdrop to the materials in the archive, they
tie the archive to the place while acknowledg
ing the passage of time. When looking at the
withered pear tree, or the overgrown hawthorn
hedge, we are brought closer to the young artist
that planted the tree, or to Eva as she reclines in
her garden chair in front of the hedge (figure 4).
But it also gives us a reference for the time that
has passed. Family photograph s, oral histories
of the place passed down by local citizens as
well as by family and friends, pictures painted by
FIGURE 4. Eva Arosenius, reclining in her chair in
front of the orchard. Photographer unknown. From
Konstndren Ivar Arosenius handlingar at Gothen
burg University Library.
BEBYGGELSEH ISTOR ISK TIDSKRIFT 73/2or7 121
JONATHAN WESTIN & DICK CLAESSON
FIGURE 5. The homestead in Alvangen 1908. Photographer unknown. From Konstnaren lvar Arosenius hand
lingar at Gothenburg University Library.
topographical survey map of 1890-9725, allow around. Was it already gone in the 1930s? Or
ing us to remove irrelevant twentieth-century was it vandalized and stripped of the caricatures
structures from the landscape. The root cellar in 1967?28 Or, as local stories would have it, was
was digitized using structure-from-motion pho the artwork dismantled by relatives and surrepti
togrammetry as well as a survey of the remain tiously moved to a ski bar in the United States
ing parts of the structure. The digitized cellar in the 1950s?
was then reconstructed using photos taken in As we pored over the old photographs, one
1971 for an article in the newspaper Goteborgs in particular drew our attention. It appeare d to
Posten as a guide26• Though the photos were depict a social occasion of some kind in front of
not included in the published newspaper article, the house (figure 5). Arosenius, standing on the
they had been archived and resurfaced when we stairs holding his daughter by the hand, is almost
put in a request to gain access to the published unrecognisable due to the heavy shadows falling
photos. The same archive also provided photo on his face. Clear outlines of a structure, break
documentation of the state of the ruined gazebo ing the sunlight, can be seen on the gravelled
in 1971, and also, in a series of photos taken in ground in front of the house. But what cast that
the 1950s, of the few remaining paintings on its great shadow? The reconstruction could not, at
ceiling. that point, provide us with an answer.
Yet the archive, the anecdotes and the site It was only when we were able to access a
did not all add up. The barn, said to contain the series of aerial survey photographs , dating from
outhouse that was decorat ed with caricatures 1931 up to and including 1978, that the history
depicting 'enemies' from the art academy27, of the site fell into place, firmly establishing a
would not - for the purposes of the digital re timeline that both confirmed and contradict ed
construction - stay in one place. It kept moving our preliminary findings. The grainy aerial pho-
122 BEBYGGEL SEHISTORI SK TIDSKRIFT 73/2017
TH E PAINTER IS ABSENT
tography, shot as early as 1931, provided firm
evidence of the early layout of the site which
contradicted assumptions we had made based
on later and, as it turned out, irrelevant imagery.
The barn and the outhouse, described in our
sources as being part of the same structure and
situated between the courtyard and the fields
leading down to the river, were initially sepa
rate buildings. In Arosenius' lifetime, only the
outhouse had occupied the spot indicated by
our sources, while the barn were instead located
at a position opposite the west-facing front of
the house. Sometime in the late 1930s or early
1940s, Arosenius' barn is replaced with a new
one, built at an angle to the previous barn at
the spot our sources indicate, gently supporting
the by then ancient outhouse. The story of the
decorated outhouse, the theft of its art and its FIGURE 6. Shadow simulation using the reconstruc
tion. Models and composition by Jonathan Westin.
decay, had thus been transformed by the limits
of both archive and living memory into this new
barn, and then found its way into our recon
struction process before being questioned.
The original barn, now brought into the re
construction process, could finally help us to not
only understand the shadow in the photograph,
but also the moment in time when the camera
framed it. By reconstructing the light conditions
to match the shadow, it became highly probable
that the shutter had opened, and closed, some
time around five in the afternoon in early July,
1908, perhaps on Arosenius' daughter's second
birthday on the fourth of that month (figure 6).
Surely such an occasion would call for a family FIGURE 7. The archival material as the foundation of
the virtual reconstruction. Models and composition
photograph? by Jonathan Westin.
Moreover, the aerial photographs showed
us the outlines of gravel pathways that, even more cramped space created between the house
though the trees obscured much of the detail and the original barn, now positioned opposite
beneath, allowed us to situate the gazebo at the the porch, changed both the character and the
end of an old pathway. No actual fragments of balance of the site. The space became intimate,
the gazebo existed: this was purely based on ar an inner courtyard - an extension of the family's
chival research and the placement was posited living quarters - defined by the house, the barn,
as a highly probable conjecture. and the kitchen garden. In contrast, the back
By placing the aerial photographs as textures yard opened up as a more natural space of recre
on top of our hypothetical model of the site, ation and social activity. In an instant the space
we were able to test the validity of our initial was inverted: sightlines had to be reassessed,
rough sketch (figure 7). Though only minor cor and the photographs and the documents of the
rections to the boundaries of the garden and archive had to be consulted anew to describe
the placement of the house were necessary, the this reconsidered reconstruction of the site.
BEBYGGELSEHISTORISK TIDSKRIFT 73/ 2017 123
JONATHAN WESTIN & DICK CLAESSON
and use. As such they constitute an assemblage
Contextualizing Life
that tells us nothing of their meaning. In the ar
Through the reconstruction we are trying to chaeological sense of the word, an assemblage is
stage the content of the archive and bring af the result of both natural and cultural processes
fect back into the digital archive. Just as the ar grouping artefacts together at a particular time
chive contains a translation of Arosenius' home, and place31, but the assemblage is also reliant
first into documents and files, and later, when on an archaeologist to recognise it and classify
digitized, into bits, the reconstruct ion of Arose it as such. While an archive or museum collec
nius' home is an attempt to translate these bits tion constitutes an assemblage in its own right,
into meaning by reassembling their context. A it is an assemblage that may provide us more
few architectural elements were salvaged from insight into an everyday archival practice than
the dilapidated house in May, 197029 - a pair of into the context of the individual artefacts or
doors decorated by Arosenius, as well as a plas documents themselves32. Counter to this, the act
tered masonry stove immortalized by the artist of reconstructing Arosenius' home is, by its very
in a painting showing his daughter transfixed by nature, an investigation into both the limits of
the light of a candlestick placed in a niche. Now the archive view - that which the archive lets
reassembled in the old homestead museum, the us perceive - and the product of activating and
storied stove has been cut down, its base short giving depth to the archive by reassembling it -
ened, in order for it to fit into its new, cramped bringing the documents together with the site
surround ings. Nevertheless, it remains an iconic of their origin.
relic of Arosenius' home and studio. The painted The doors, the stove, and the documents of
doors, illustrating the painter's playfulness but the archives are all artefacts of a physical site
also, unfortunately, the verdict conservator Arne that today yield very little to unprepared visitors.
Kennroth uttered in 1967 - 'these will be prob It is the combination of all of these elements
lematic to conserve'30 - now hang suspended that offers a reconstruction that transcend s the
from a wall, removed from their original setting atomism of its individual parts. The reconstruc-
FIGURE 8. Two of the paintings recontextualized on the ceiling of the gazebo. Models and composition by
Jonathan Westin.
124 BEBYGGELSEH lSTORISK TIDSKRIFT 73/ 201 7
THE PAINTE R IS ABSENT
tion, for instance, fixes the parameters of the ously disavows the idea that the restorer's in
interpreta tion of the paintings on the doors - tervention might have changed the [object] in
40
what rooms did the doors lead to, and were any significant way' . Thus, the first syllable
the paintings adapted to the functions of the of reconstruction does not denote faithfulness
rooms? The reconstruction also provides a new to an original meaning, but instead points to a
framework for the interpr etation of Arosenius' new cycle in the life of the non-surviving site,
paintings now lost, documented only in black landscape, monument, structure or object, one
and-white photos in the archives. To once again through which new meanings and interpreta
allow them to adorn the ceiling of the gazebo tions may emerge. Just as, in Derrida ' s words,
(figure 8) and the outhouse walls, as well as the the act of archivization produces as much as it
interior walls of the house, reveals the context records, the act of reconstruction both records
of their origin. our current knowledge and produces new in
The reconstruction allows the documents sights.
in the archive to be framed not only as archive
documents, but as artefacts reflecting - and re
Conclusions
situating - the relationship that ties Arosenius'
art to his surround ings. As Derrida puts it, ar Arosenius moved into an old homestead that
chives are at once institutive and conservative, was small and insignificant and transformed it,
revolutionary and traditional, as the 'archiviza through rebuilding and remodelling, into an art
tion produces as much as it records '33: while ist's studio. While reshaping a home that had
organising factual statements they also produce originally been built to provide shelter for a
historical narratives. Indeed, an archive, through farmer and his family in the nineteenth century,
the technical mechanisms involved in archiving, Arosenius was not only restructuring his own life
the limitations of storage, and the impossibility and that of his family - moving from the big city
of collecting everything within a given subject, to the unassuming countryside - he was also re
offers a skewed representation of the past and flecting the ambitions of other artists and paint
is no more than a 'prostheses of so called live ers, such as the Swedish painter Carl Larsson
memory '34. and his wife Karin Larsson at their cottage at
In Derrida 's reading the question of the ar Lilla Hyttnas in Sundborn. Inspired by the Arts
chive is not a question of the past, but is in and Crafts movement, these artists rediscovered
stead a question of the future: what uses can be the idea of the countryside through myth and
drawn from the archive in the future35? Likewise, legend, and through an idealized perception of
the act of reconstructing is not about restoring the authenticity of rural settings.
the past, it's about using the archive for future Myth and legend was Arosenius' stock-in
endeavours. As Silberman writes, commenting trade. While he ordered his paints and papers
on the Dubai Document 36, reconstruction 'is from Paris and Berlin, he conjured the images
not a conservation approach but an engagement he would paint from the river, the hills, the flow
approach that can help reconnect people with ers and the animals surrounding him. His recon
place, history, and landscape' 37• Hence, 'to re struction became the backdrop for stories de
construct' should not be confused with 'to re rived in equal parts from tradition and legend.
store', a term that lays bare the belief that we Such luxury is not permitted the researchers at
can turn back time and bring an unmediated tempting to reconstruct his 'reconstruct ion'.
artefact back to an earlier phase in its career. As this article has argued, the reconstruction
This has been critically discussed by, among of a site is not a process of re-assembling known
others, Muii.os Viii.as38 and Hughes39• Hughes pieces into a whole through which to commu
summarizes the idea of a complete 'restoration' nicate already established ideas, but rather an
as '[betraying] an assumption that the restored iterative research method of investigation and
object is identical to the original, and simultane- translation that allows heterogeneous materi-
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