Modern Painters

BLOUINARTINFO.COM JUNE/JULY 2016 MODERN PAINTERS 83DANIEL R. SMALLin similarly arcane rituals, mysterious knowledge, scandals, andsecrets quickly forgotten and remade with each passing generation.(One of the excavators of DeMille’s set, Lambert Dolphin, joined theRosicrucians and hoped to discover the legendary Akashic records,which exist on the astral plane, with radar technology during anexcavation funded by psychic Edgar Cayce’s foundation.) A decadedoesn’t go by without some kind of Egyptian-myth story tumblingout of Hollywood, each built on false and imagined imagery ofan Egypt that never existed except in these movie fantasies.``````utside the Bible, the Exodus itself has little historicalor archaeological record, and thus the detailssurrounding this foundational moment in Judeo-Christian faith can be cinematically created onlywith a lot of guesswork. The opening sequence ofThe Ten Commandments is based on Poynter’s1867 painting Israel in Egypt; among this painting’s early detractorsZDVLWVÀUVWSXUFKDVHUZKRFRPSODLQHGRIWKHREYLRXVKLVWRULFDOinaccuracy of the depiction, saying that way more slaves would berequired to pull the granite lion than were in the picture. (Toappease his client, Poynter added many more slaves to the painting.)DeMille’s depiction wholly invents its Egyptian setting, and foundamong the ruins of the set were numerous anachronisms,including a facsimile of the Narmer Palette (a relic from around(^3000) B.C. containing early hieroglyphics, in no way associatedZLWKWKH([RGXVDQGQHYHUVHHQLQWKHÀOPDQGIDX[5RPDQFRLQVstamped 45 B.C. ,W·VZRUWKQRWLQJWKDWEHVLGHVWKHGLIÀFXOW\of dating things before the birth of Jesus, which demarcates theWestern calendar, the Exodus is thought to have happened around1440 B.C. Both the Palette and the coins will be on display at theHammer, along with a number of artifacts on loan from the townRIXDGDOXSH·VXQOLNHO\DQGXQRIÀFLDOKLVWRU\PXVHXPKRXVHGLQa NAPA Auto Parts store. One of the town’s few surviving businesses,it sells auto parts alongside a makeshift museum in an old postRIÀFHWKDWGRHVLWVEHVWWRSUHVHUYHWKHWRZQ·VKLVWRU\7KHODEHOVDWWKH+DPPHUZLOOOLNHO\EHWKHÀUVWHYHUWRUHDG ́&RXUWHV\NAPA Auto Parts.”The set of Pi Ramesses was mostly built by local workers,including a number of Japanese immigrants who were later roundedup into internment and labor camps during World War II.The opening sequence in DeMille’s movie cites World War I as acompelling reason to revisit the commandments, a return to therule of law that keeps humans from committing such atrocities.Included in Small’s particular archive are pictures of Japaneselaborers posing like Grand Tourists in front of the plaster moviesphinx. Each of the background stories makes these relics ofDKLVWRU\LQSDVVLQJUHÁHFWLQJEDFNRQLWVHOIDVLWJHWVUHSHDWHGthrough time.Even in the modern era, these ancient mythologies trickle in.The Hollywood and Highland Center shopping complex (wherethe Academy Awards ceremony takes place at the Dolby Theatre)has as its centerpiece a three-story courtyard inspired by the%DE\ORQVFHQHIURPWKH':ULIÀWKÀOPIntolerance. The developerof the shopping center built part of the archway and two pillarsZLWKHOHSKDQWVFXOSWXUHVRQWKHFDSLWDOVMXVWDVVHHQLQWKHÀOPto the same scale. But even with so much made by computers,one doesn’t doubt that Hollywood builds and destroys city-size setsevery year, many bigger, to be sure, than DeMille’s. Per industrystandards, the sets have to be destroyed—not just buried in thesands—preventing us the dream of playing archaeologist. Small’scollection reads something like a historical survey. However, thehistory he tells is not one of a place but of a modern mythology,how this cinematic creation captures our shifting fantasies.Baudrillard once wrote that Disneyland exists to hide the fact thatall Southern California is a simulacrum. DeMille’s ruins, asexcavated by Small, provide us another simulacrum, one of history,allowing us the feeling of discovering a mythical past, even if oneof our fairly recent invention. MPO