Jerry Summers
In a previous article (March 31, 2022) I discussed the existence of a cyclorama in Chattanooga. In the event that you are not a member of my vast multitude (all 3-4) of weekly readers I will repeat the definition of what is a Cyclorama.
“Mammoth panoramic paintings displayed in cylindrical wooden buildings around the country that were normally 50 feet high and 375 feet high in circumference that surrounded the viewer and tricked the eye into seeing three dimensions.”
In order to boost my crowd ratings, I will not repeat the history of the Scenic City’s big painting. However, I do know that I have at least one history scholar in the area, Anthony Hodges, who sent me an e-mail on March 31 and informed me that in reality there were “two” different Chattanooga cycloramas.
He gave me an interesting source to discover more about what he described as two competing groups of European artists who created two cycloramas of Chattanooga’s Civil War Battles and information on them may possibly be found at the Atlanta History Center, the present home of the depiction of the Battle of Atlanta in 1864.
The “Atlanta” canvas was said to have been finished and displayed in Detroit, Michigan in February 1887.
In 1890 a promoter, Paul Atkinson from Madison, Georgia, also allegedly bought the “Atlanta” for $2,500 and moved it to Chattanooga.
Ultimately the painting would wind up near the Atlanta Zoo in Grant Park.
It is believed that the only surviving cycloramas in the United States are the two at Gettysburg and Atlanta.
The original depiction was much more favorable to the Southern point of view during the era of the “Lost Cause” that was heavily supported by the surviving widows and descendants of the men in gray who were killed in the Civil War from 1861-1865. The sincerity of those individuals plus the self-serving politicians of the era presented a distorted view of the reality that the deadly struggle was fought over slavery, not states rights. Said comment is not in any way meant to minimize the hurt that the relatives sustained with the loss of a loved one that has repeated itself with every subsequent war or action to the present.
Over time Atlanta has changed and so has the Cyclorama in Georgia’s capitol.
A series of recent articles give different perspectives about the giant 42 feet tall and 358 feet in circumference example of the reportedly largest painting in the country:
1. Article – A Tale of Two Survivors: The Gettysburg and Atlanta Cycloramas’ Suzanne Wray (2018);
2. Article – Atlanta’s Cyclorama: A timeline and history of the Battle of Atlanta painting; Across Atlanta (2019);
3. Article – Cyclorama at the Atlanta History Center, Atlanta Tribe, Phillip Dural (2019);
4. Article – Atlanta’s Civil War Monument, Minus the Pro-Confederate Bunkum, Daniel Judt (2019).
Over the years the painting would fall into disrepair. It also would become the topic of controversy as to its history between Union and Confederate veterans, white and black politicians, civil rights leaders, and segregationists, who have all tried to claim and control the Cyclorama.
Ironically, Atlanta’s first African American mayor, Maynard Jackson, would take one of the first steps in 1974 to preserve the painting.
Periodically additional steps have been taken to repair and permanently make the exhibit a historical work that has been moved to the Atlanta History Center from its former location. It has been renovated and in 2014 “Mayor Kasim Reed gave it to the History Center on a 75-year loan.”
Its preservation will hopefully be interpreted as a historical reminder that its message of racial divisiveness should someday be permanently removed from America.
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You can reach Jerry Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com)