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The famous mining town of Aspen, turned ski resort, has a rich history. This is an Aspen Birds Eye View - Reproduction Poster of the original Antique Map, created by Augustus Koch and published by the Aspen Times in the 1890's. It is a unique collector's item. The map is signed by the current Aspen City Council.
Before aviation provided aerial photography, a small coterie of artists—perhaps a few more than fifty following the Civil War—crisscrossed the country for the purpose of making separately published “bird’s-eye views” of American cities. These images, drawn from an imaginary perspective high in the air and appearing as something between a panorama and a map, satisfied a need not only to understand but also to encourage the massive urban growth that took place in this country during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. For municipalities and businesses, the views provided a popular and positive way to promote themselves; for artists and publishers, the prints kept the lithographic presses running and the market satisfied. The result was thousands of images of more than 2,000 American cities
ARTIST : Augustus Koch
Augustus Koch (1840–?) was born in Birnbaum, Germany. He received a good education (whether in Germany or this country is not known) and served as a clerk and draughtsman in the Engineers Office of the Wisconsin Infantry during the Civil War. Although his English was poor, he won an assignment as an engineering officer with an African-American regiment serving in the Lower Mississippi Valley. He began his bird’s-eye-view career with a few pictures of Iowa cities in 1868 and 1869. He traveled to several other states, from California to New York and Alabama, before doing the Aspen map in 1893. Koch’s views are known for their detail and accuracy.
THE ARTISTIC PROCESS
The bird’s-eye-view artist usually began making his city portrait by consulting any available maps of the city, which helped him better understand its overall layout. Maps also helped to identify the optimal vantage point. If no maps were available, the artist might well make one of his own for these purposes. The artist would then canvas the town, sketching individual buildings from the predetermined direction and converting them to the desired aerial perspective. The artist would then typically make sketches of individual buildings, especially if a particular structure was to be used as one of the detailed vignettes in the margin of the print; in other instances, the artist might sketch whole blocks or areas of the town
ART FOR PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES
Bird’s-eye-view artists typically incorporated elements into their views to emphasize prosperity, progress, growth, opportunity, and wealth. For example, they focused on different methods of transportation to suggest that the cities depicted were a part of the national and regional grids
FINANCING THE VIEWS
As with any endeavor, financing the bird’s-eye views was an obvious concern, and the artists and printers tapped several different sources to cover their costs. The most popular method was to secure advance subscriptions, which the artists or their agents offered in every city.
Still another source of project funding was likely the legends or keys to the views. The artist numbered significant structures (and some not so significant) in the city and then provided a key at the bottom of the print. Paid advertisements notwithstanding, city fathers clearly agreed that bird’s-eye views offered an effective method of publicizing their cities and promoting urban growth, and they enthusiastically offered the views for sale to their communities. The market these artists found for their part-map, part-panorama views was largely due to the expansive and promotional characteristics of Americans. The views seemed to become the epitome of a democratic art form, illustrating large and small cities—and all parts of the cities—throughout the country. As documents that encouraged immigration and urbanization, the views may be interpreted as later expressions of the pre-Civil War idea of Manifest Destiny, which, of course, fueled much of the country’s earlier expansionism. |
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