Django wrote:
Why is a Greek vase important historically? They used vases. We use vases. The Romans used vases. The Egyptians used vases. There are millions of vases in the world. What can you learn by looking at this vase fragment? It was a vessel to hold food or water. Who cares, right?
Interesting discussion (I'll take this over gasps of 'awesome' any day).
One quick response. A vase
can tell you something critical about how to build a replica ship - the Trireme
Olympias in the Greek Navy, for instance.
August makes many good points; and so does Django. Dottie May's nose are is both utterly trivial and an important (rather than 'priceless', I should have said 'irreplaceable', perhaps) example of genuine, original folk art of the period.
History is as fashion driven as anything else; it fits into the greater recognition and focus on 'ordinary' peoples roles in history; and in the shift from the kings, battles, generals approach. Like the (IMHO)
over-emphasis on minorities in history it's just one facet of the raw data of one bit of history, but like a single jigsaw pice, cumulatively it's important. The CAF's collection of original nose-art is (IMHO) one of the most important preserved items in aviation preservation, as it tells us what we want to learn about some if their everyday lives; just like the tins of their 'chow' or box brownie photos. (I believe we over rate historical documents and governmental edicts - as we know, they don't always gel with the will of the people afterwards, and are often whitewash over a messier reality - history needs to include all of that.) On their own, they are of limited use, but like pottery shards or coins cumulatively help date a site, the selection tells us a lot of what was acceptable art at the time; that they felt driven to make it, and how it was done (and why Vargas should've demanded royalties!)
As someone married to an art historian, they have a particular interest; any artist will be interested as to how they were created in war zones (the Pacific being particularly challenging) and what paints and techniques were used. That gives us a different 'connection' to those people, perhaps emotionally driven but no less real than the political connection of other history.
Oh, and incidentally, specifically Renaissance paintings do tell us a lot about life, politics and so forth of the time; usually more than the documents from the period. Hopper's paintings are already held as a critical insight into the era of Amertican history, even used as illustrations in textbooks.
What's included (in art, and nose-art) and also
not shown, is crucial to the social mores of the time (like the difference between Gulf War art and W.W.II nose art).
It's trivial - just as trivial as everything else.