In the spring of 2018, I was awarded the art direction of a new stamp commemorating the arrival of the Mayflower in the New World. Every assignment is an honor, but for my baby boomer generation, the story of the first Thanksgiving — when the new settlers from England feasted with the indigenous Wampanoag Tribe — is especially cherished. As a child, I found the idea of disparate people coming together in collaborative peace compelling and hopeful. I still do.
在2018年Spring，我被授予纪念五月花号进入新世界的新邮票的艺术指导。 每次任务都是一种荣誉，但是对于我的婴儿潮一代来说，第一个感恩节的故事-当来自英格兰的新移民与当地的Wampanoag部落一起盛宴时-尤为珍贵。 小时候，我发现异族团结在一起的想法令人信服，充满希望。 我仍然。
But how much of this nostalgic narrative reflects what really happened?
但是，这种怀旧叙事多少反映了实际发生的事情？
As with any substantive design project, I began with some basic research and discovered Nathaniel Philbrick’s book, Mayflower. Written in 2006, it became (at the time) the definitive text on this 400-year-old story of the Pilgrims’ journey. With fresh discoveries at his disposal, Philbrick’s lively account was praised by critics and especially by the New York Times:
与任何实质性设计项目一样，我从一些基础研究入手，并发现了纳撒尼尔·菲尔布里克的书《 五月花》 。 它写于2006年，当时(当时)成为这本具有400年历史的朝圣者旅程的权威文本。 有了新发现，费城的活泼叙述受到评论家，尤其是《纽约时报》的称赞：
“This is a story that needs to be continually refreshed, and Philbrick has recast the Pilgrims for our age of searching and turmoil. He gives what a 21st-century reader needs to find in the material: perspectives of both the English Americans and the Native Americans.”
“这是一个需要不断刷新的故事，而菲尔布里克(Philbrick)已在我们搜寻和动荡的时代重塑了朝圣者。 他提供了21世纪读者需要在资料中找到的东西：英裔美国人和美洲原住民的观点。”
Philbrick does not shy away from the brutal and sometimes barbaric narrative, contrary to my elementary school indoctrination. Rather, he recognizes that the new beginning for the Pilgrims was also the beginning of a kind of ending for the indigenous peoples of North America. As Philbrick writes, “Instead of the story we already know, it becomes the story we need to know.”
Philbrick并不回避残酷的，有时甚至是野蛮的叙述，这与我的小学教育相反。 相反，他认识到朝圣者的新起点也是北美土著人民的终点的起点。 正如Philbrick所说：“与其说我们已经知道的故事，不如说是我们需要知道的故事。”
With some renewed confidence in the fuller story, my colleagues at USPS and I began to imagine how to visually narrate this epic moment in American history. While tangled and troublesome questions permeate the story, the landing of the Pilgrims in Plymouth Harbor is nevertheless a monumental occasion for the ensuing history of the United States.
对整个故事有了新的信心，我和USPS的同事开始想象如何从视觉上叙述美国历史上的这一史诗般的时刻。 尽管纠结和棘手的问题充斥着整个故事，但朝圣者在普利茅斯港的登陆仍然是随后美国历史性的里程碑。
Attempting to learn from past efforts to commemorate this extraordinary point in time, we first took a careful look at the many historic paintings of the Pilgrims’ first meeting of the Wampanoag Tribe in 1620. Most of the artwork depicts a warm welcome or, very often, portrays some highly romanticized pastiche of the first Thanksgiving. Since so much doubt has been cast upon what really happened and, not least, because we were looking to visualize a fresh portrayal, we began to look for other ways to tell the story.
为了尝试从过去的努力中学习以纪念这一非凡的时间，我们首先仔细观察了朝圣者在1620年Wampanoag部落第一次会议上的许多历史画作。大多数艺术品都受到热烈欢迎，或者经常是描绘了第一个感恩节的一些高度浪漫化的模仿。 由于人们对实际发生的事情产生了很大的怀疑，而且，尤其是因为我们希望将新的描述形象化，因此，我们开始寻找其他方法来讲述故事。
We moved on to consider other historical paintings of the famous ship, especially The Mayflower on Her Arrival in Plymouth Harbor by William Formsby Halsall. Painted in 1882, the Mayflower is shown at dawn after her landing in Plymouth Harbor. At first blush, we wondered if this historic painting might in itself provide the artwork for the stamp design.
我们继续考虑著名船的其他历史绘画，特别是威廉·福尔兹比·哈索尔(William Formsby Halsall)的《五月花在普利茅斯港到来》。 五月花彩绘画于1882年，在登陆普利茅斯港后在黎明时显示。 乍一看，我们想知道这幅历史画本身是否可以为邮票设计提供艺术品。
However, even though this momentous painting portrays a luminous sky, the hull of the ship is so dark as to be potentially troublesome to reproduce. What’s more, the discovery of inaccuracies in the ship’s rendering have diminished confidence in the painting over the years.
但是，即使这张重要的画描绘了发光的天空，船的船体还是很黑，以至于难以复制。 更重要的是，多年来，船舶渲染中发现的不准确之处降低了人们对这幅画的信心。
But in the mid-1950s, a seaworthy replica was built named Mayflower II. The American Museum, Plimoth Plantation, provided reconstructed blueprints to English shipbuilders who employed traditional methods. This full-scale replica, currently being renovated, provided the impetus to create new art that would be more historically accurate and provide the fresh visual narrative we were eager to create.
但是在1950年代中期，建造了名为“ 五月花II”的适航复制品。 美国博物馆，普利莫斯种植园，向采用传统方法的英国造船厂提供了重建的蓝图。 目前正在翻新的这种全尺寸复制品为创作更具历史意义的新艺术提供了动力，并提供了我们渴望创造的新颖视觉叙事。
What is most gratifying in my work as an art director for USPS is the opportunity to commission and collaborate with America’s very best artists. And while the process of researching the right artist for any stamp project can be exhilarating, it is often overwhelming. But for the Mayflower I knew from the beginning that I wanted to work with painter Greg Harlin.
作为USPS的艺术总监，我最高兴的是有机会与美国最好的艺术家进行委托和合作。 尽管为任何邮票项目研究合适的艺术家的过程可能令人振奋，但这通常是令人难以置信的。 但是对于五月花，我从一开始就知道我想和画家格雷格·哈林(Greg Harlin)合作。
We first worked together for a series of stamps commemorating the War of 1812, and it was then I discovered how Greg earned his tremendous reputation as a historical painter. I was impressed by his insatiable curiosity for historic detail, but what made him so exceptional was his extraordinary felicity for recreating authentic narrative. He strives for his paintings to engage viewers in the story.
我们首先合作制作了一系列纪念1812年战争的邮票，然后我才发现格雷格(Greg)如何赢得他作为历史画家的巨大声誉。 他对历史细节的无限好奇心使我印象深刻，但令他如此与众不同的是他对再现真实叙事的非凡追求。 他努力使自己的画作吸引观众进入故事。
So when I queried him about painting the Mayflower I knew he’d be eager to set sail.
因此，当我向他询问绘画五月花的画法时，我知道他渴望启航。
Having decided to explore the landing of the Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor, Greg was eager to learn more. What were the features of the landscape in 1620? What time of day did the Mayflower first drop anchor? And given the winter context, would there have been snow on the ground, and from which direction would the sun be rising?
格雷格决定探索五月花号在普利茅斯港(Plymouth Harbour)的登陆之后，渴望了解更多信息。 1620年的景观特征是什么？ 五月花第一时间落在哪一天？ 在冬天的背景下，地面会不会下雪，太阳从哪个方向升起？
What I brought to our deliberations, I think, was the idea of anticipation. Although much of what happened after the Pilgrims clambered onto the rocks of New England is unknowable, there is an appropriate sense of hope in the scene of the Mayflower entering the New World. We were both motivated to represent the historical moment faithfully but also to create some sense of beauty and uncertainty of what lay ahead.
我认为，我带给我们的讨论是期待的想法。 尽管朝圣者爬上新英格兰的岩石后发生的许多事情是不可知的，但五月花进入新世界的场景中还是有一种适当的希望感。 我们既有动力忠实地代表历史时刻，也有创造美好感和不确定性的动力。
Greg’s bio describes him as “having spent much of his working years living in the past,” so with new discoveries in hand, he began to create sketches. Photographs and documentation from the replica, Mayflower II, provided invaluable information about the details of the original ship. He created five unique sketches of the Mayflower entering the bay with concise, almost poetic, commentary.
格雷格(Greg)的传记将他描述为“过去大部分时间都在工作”，因此随着新发现的出现，他开始创作素描。 副本Mayflower II的照片和文档提供了有关原始飞船细节的宝贵信息。 他用简洁，近乎诗意的评论创作了五月花进入海湾的五个独特草图。
These days, most original artwork is either created digitally or, if painted with traditional methods like watercolor, digitally scanned so that I most often receive sketches via email. While not as emotionally gratifying as receiving a physical package with original art, I still get excited every time I see an attachment symbol with an email from an artist. It’s almost like getting a stamped letter in my mailbox at home.
如今，大多数原始艺术品都是通过数字方式创建的，或者如果使用水彩等传统方法进行绘画，则需要进行数字扫描，以便我最经常通过电子邮件接收草图。 虽然不如收到带有原始艺术品的实物包裹那样令人心满意足，但每次看到来自艺术家的电子邮件的附件符号时，我仍然会感到兴奋。 这几乎就像在家中在我的邮箱中收到盖章的信件一样。
As I gushed through my first look at his explorations, Greg and I jumped on the phone to discuss next steps. Although each sketch would have made a beautiful painting, we agreed that there was something special about this last sketch. In Greg’s words, the “strong verticals of the ship are foreign to the landscape’s horizontals,” which demonstrates how form (and not just content) can create dissonance to evoke emotion — and in this instance, a sense of beautiful but foreboding awareness.
当我浏览一下他的探索时，格雷格和我跳了起来，讨论下一步的工作。 尽管每个素描本都会画出一幅美丽的画，但我们同意最后一张素描有些特殊之处。 用格雷格的话说，“船的强垂直于景观的水平是陌生的”，这表明形式(而不仅仅是内容)如何引起不和谐以唤起情感-在这种情况下，是一种美丽但不为人知的意识。
I remember discussing the sketches with Greg, especially his ability to articulate his thinking behind each one. We agreed that the ship anchored in Plymouth Harbor — with its small envoy pushing out toward the shore — had the most potential for being hauntingly beautiful. As a follow-up to our conversation, Greg created a color study to help us better evaluate this promising direction.
我记得曾与格雷格(Greg)讨论过素描，特别是他表达自己的想法的能力。 我们同意，锚定在普利茅斯港(Plymouth Harbour)的轮船(小特使向岸推进)具有使人难以忘怀的美丽的最大潜力。 作为对话的后续，格雷格(Greg)进行了一项色彩研究，以帮助我们更好地评估这一有希望的方向。
As I do every month during our art director meetings, I presented his sketches and color study to USPS, who enthusiastically endorsed our direction. With his sketch approved, Greg was set free to develop his color study into a final painting. In our following conversation, we discussed bringing more color to the painting because, even though his study bracingly captured the wintery environs, we recognized that the final artwork needed to be more vibrant. As a follow-up to our discussion, I received this winsome insight from Greg by email:
就像我每个月在艺术总监会议上所做的那样，我向USPS展示了他的素描和色彩研究，他热情地支持了我们的发展方向。 通过批准素描，格雷格(Greg)可以自由地将他的色彩研究发展成最终绘画。 在接下来的对话中，我们讨论了为画作添加更多色彩的原因，因为即使他的研究巧妙地捕捉到了寒冷的环境，我们也意识到最终的艺术品需要更加生动。 作为我们讨论的后续内容，我通过电子邮件从Greg那里获得了如此精彩的见解：
“I’ve been thinking about color and mood a little more. While taking a walk at sunrise this morning I witnessed a slice in heavy dark clouds where a small gash of orange light and a sense of the sun was revealing itself. Something like that might alleviate the bleakness (without changing much) and add that distant hopefulness the Pilgrims were certainly focused on. Just a thought. I could try a rough version if you still have time today.”
“我一直在思考颜色和心情。 今天早晨日出时散步时，我目睹了一片浓密的乌云中的一小片，上面散发出一小片橘黄色的光芒和一种阳光的感觉。 诸如此类的事情可能会减轻惨淡的情绪(不做太大改变)，并增加朝圣者肯定集中在遥远的希望上。 只是一个想法。 如果您今天还有时间，我可以尝试一下粗略的版本。”
Greg is one of those rare artists who is able to articulate what he is imagining, so my instinct was to trust his instinct. I most assuredly encouraged his thinking and, although we had the inevitable back and forth exchanges that go into almost every piece of stamp art, the final painting from Greg was simply magnificent. All of the historic detail was in place, as was the somber sky set against the New England shoreline. But additionally, there was a “gash” of rising sun, illuminating the harbor and reinforcing the sense of anticipation we had been aspiring to achieve.
格雷格是能够表达他的想象力的罕见艺术家之一，所以我的本能是相信他的本能。 我最有把握地鼓励他的思想，尽管几乎每一个邮票艺术都有不可避免的来回交流，但格雷格的最后一幅画简直是宏伟的。 所有历史悠久的细节都就位，阴沉的天空紧贴新英格兰海岸线。 但是除此之外，还有一道“升腾的阳光”，照亮了港口，增强了我们一直渴望实现的期待感。
From the beginning of the project, Greg and I worked together on the composition of his painting, mostly to achieve an almost surreal sense of beauty, but also to create intentional space for the typography. Every commemorative stamp features the words FOREVER and USA, as reference to the perpetual first-class value of each stamp in the United States. The typeface for the project, Farnham, was designed in 2004 and inspired by an 18th-century German punchcutter — the craft of making traditional metal type.
从项目开始之初，我和格雷格就开始创作他的画作，主要是为了获得一种几乎超现实的美感，还为印刷术创造了有意的空间。 每张纪念邮票均以“永远”和“美国”两词为参考，以提及美国每枚邮票的永久头等价值。 该项目的字体Farnham于2004年设计，灵感来自18世纪的德国穿Kong机-一种制作传统金属字体的Craft.io。
The final stamp design allows the artwork to bleed — or extend — beyond the stamp perforations, giving the watercolor as much uninterrupted impact as possible. And as a final flourish, I drew a simple representation of the flowering shrub that inspired the name of the ship.
最终的邮票设计允许艺术品渗出 (或延伸)到邮票的穿Kong之外，从而给水彩画带来尽可能多的不间断影响。 作为最后的繁荣，我绘制了开花灌木的简单表示形式，这启发了船的名字。
Since I began the project in 2018, new scholarship has revealed even more details about the landing of the Mayflower, some of which casts doubt on the original Thanksgiving. In his 2019 book, This Land Is Their Land, scholar David Silverman tells the story from the perspective of the indigenous people. In an article adapted for The Atlantic, Silverman writes that the Wampanoag Tribe had their own troubles, especially with neighboring tribes. Their warm reception of the Pilgrims was motivated, in part, by the potential of developing a military ally.
自从我在2018年开始该项目以来，新的奖学金揭示了有关五月花号着陆的更多细节，其中一些对最初的感恩节产生了怀疑。 学者戴维·西尔弗曼(David Silverman)在其2019年的著作《 这片土地就是他们的土地 》中从土著人民的角度讲了这个故事。 Silverman在为《大西洋 》改编的文章中写道，Wampanoag部落有自己的麻烦，尤其是与邻近部落的麻烦。 他们对朝圣者的热情接待部分是由于发展军事同盟的潜力。
Our nation is engaged in ongoing conversation — a fresh historical reckoning — that is in harmony with the spirit of the age but also necessary to keep us from descending into myth. What is still true, however, is that the Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower were courageous and visionary, and they helped promote the promise of freedom in the New World.
我们国家正在进行持续的对话，这是一种崭新的历史回顾，这与时代精神相吻合，但也是防止我们陷入神话的必要条件。 然而，仍然是真实的是， 五月花号上的朝圣者是勇敢而有远见的，他们帮助促进了新世界对自由的承诺。
The promise is great, but the work is not yet done. My hope is that the issuance of Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor keeps the conversation going.
For more from Journey Group, subscribe to Story Matters, our twice-a-month email of the best-told stories from around the web.
有关 Journey Group的 更多信息 ，请订阅 Story Matters ，这是我们每月两次的电子邮件，用于收集网络上最畅销的故事。
翻译自: https://medium.com/journey-group/designing-the-mayflower-postage-stamp-d0e7f013aed7
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