John White's art comes home

JAMES CITY COUNTY

In the 1580s, John White was like a National Geographic photographer, traveling to an exotic new world to capture scenes for armchair tourists.

Instead of film, he used pencil and watercolors. On just such a trek, he created what are now the earliest existing images of the plants, animals and Algonquian-speaking Indians of this region.

All 70 or so of White's watercolors go on display Tuesday at Jamestown Settlement. It's the first time any of White's originals have been exhibited in Virginia, said Kim Sloan, a curator at the British Museum, which has owned the works since the mid-19th century.

Up until 1964, the watercolors had never left the London museum. That year, the delicate images toured the United States for the first time. The closest the show came to Hampton Roads was a two-week stay at a history museum in Raleigh, N.C.

Nonetheless, locals may be familiar with White's images. During last year's 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, hordes of visitors at the Jamestown attractions saw dozens of reproductions of his work.

"When it comes to understanding this era, nothing is more important than John White's watercolors," said Tom Davidson, senior curator at Jamestown Settlement.

"They are absolutely core to any understanding of the period of discovery and exploration in this part of the world." The watercolors inspired the museum's graphics and guided the design of its outdoor Powhatan Indian village.

White's watercolors are like the "Mona Lisa," much seen and studied, but rarely in person.

Many people know his work through copies made by illustrators and printmakers who altered the scenes to suit their needs.

"Why is it ever important to see the original of anything?" Davidson said last week. He pointed to the tiny figure of a dog in a depiction of the Indian town of Pomeiooc. That alert little pup with upturned tail is not visible on prints. The originals, he said, are "full of detail that is never going to show up in a reproduction."

What is known about White and his art constitutes more of a rough sketch than a finished painting. White was born in the 1540s, Sloan said during a tour of the show last week. Painting was his vocation.

"He was one of the gentleman-adventurers who put money into the expedition," Sloan said. "But gentlemen wanted to be useful." By documenting the New World, he could serve a purpose.

"One way to think of it was, he was Sir Walter Raleigh's camera," Davidson said. Raleigh had the patent to establish a colony in Virginia but could not travel there. Naturally, he wanted visuals.

White visited the newly named Virginia five times. Three of the expeditions were organized by Raleigh. For one, in 1587, White was governor of what came to be known as "The Lost Colony." Virginia Dare, the first English child born here, was his granddaughter.

He returned to England in August 1587 for provisions. Because of conflict with Spain, White was prohibited from returning to America. He didn't return until 1590, and found no trace of the colony, including his daughter, son-in-law and grandchild.

All of White's watercolors of Native Americans resulted from an eight-day excursion in July 1585 to Indian towns southwest of what is now Roanoke Island, N.C., Sloan said.

The artist depicted the layout of Secotan, which had a clear organization with a central lane, like an English village. One watercolor of Pomeiooc shows a palisade surround ing a town with rounded longhouses covered with reed mats.

These natives look peaceful, not aggressive. Only one figure carries a weapon, and that is a werowance, or chief, who handles a bow. English were archers, too.

White illustrated how the Indians cooked their food, fished and hunted for their supper, how they sat on mats to eat nuts and berries. He showed women with their children, depicted priests and rituals.

He probably drew sketches on site, then finished the paintings on the ship or back home in England, curator Sloan said. She said there was some evidence that the artist used a template for the figures, which explains the similarity of physiques.

For the album, White selected certain images "to make points about their usefulness to an English plan of colonization," wrote Joyce Chaplin, a Harvard history professor, in the exhibition's catalog. "White's illustrations, like so many of the narratives of Roanoke, were part of a propaganda campaign intended to promote the tiny English outpost."

If the natives seemed to have a calm, ordered society, even their own religion, then the English would be more apt to risk being among the first colonists. Trade and friendly relations looked plausible. Patrons would feel more comfortable backing the endeavor, too.

A 1590 book published by engraver Theodore de Bry made these images widely known.

Sloan said she believes these original watercolors were tucked into an album as part of a "deluxe presentation book" made for the royal court. "He took so much trouble with them, and he uses gold and silver, which he wouldn't do if he was just recording images."

Scholars can't say exactly where the album was until the 1780s, when the Earl of Charlemont of Dublin, Ireland, bought it at an auction. It was in his library until his descendants opted to sell around 1864.

The album went to Sotheby's auction house in London, which stored it in a warehouse that caught fire. The album cover was destroyed but the images remained mostly intact, if somewhat faded.

The water dousing caused parts of the paintings to bleed onto facing blank sheets. Still, the work was auctioned. An American dealer bought it, hoping to resell to an American buyer. None surfaced, so he sold it to the British Museum.

Sloan marveled that, through so many years, "these things miraculously survived."

In 2000, after so many requests to borrow the watercolors, the British Museum began organizing this show. Jamestown Settlement jumped at the chance to host the touring show for its final stop.

"This is probably only going to happen once in a lifetime," Davidson said. "This may be our only chance to see all the John Whites in one location."

Teresa Annas, (757) 446-2485, teresa.annas@pilotonline.com