Electric guitar model 331
by the Electro String Instrument Corp. (Rickenbacker brand),
1971. From the collection of Brian Fischer.
Dangerous
Curves:
BOSTON, MASS. - The visual artistry of guitars is the focus of
"Dangerous Curves, " that recently opened at the Museum of Fine
Arts. The 130 instruments on display demonstrate both the
mainstream development of the guitar and branch developments that
prospered for a few decades before withering. About half of the
instruments were created since World War II.
Guitars are popular and recently a number of coffee table books
have been written on the subject. However, scholarly research on
the development of guitars is limited. MFA musical instruments
curator Darcey Kuronen commented, "My specialty is early American
instruments. Two years ago we decided to do a guitar exhibit, and
I assumed there was plenty of scholarly material on the history
of guitars. We soon discovered there was plenty of published
material, but most of information is recycled and superficial.
The history of the guitar is a significant topic that has been
seriously under researched."
Kuronen addressed the scope and focus of his show. "Several years
ago there was huge exhibit at the Smithsonian that looked at the
guitar's development during a seventy-year period, and considered
the musical, visual, and technological evolution of the
instrument. We chose to take a wider scope that reviewed the
entire four hundred-year history of the instrument, and a
narrower focus that followed the visual development apart from
technological innovations. Our thinking was that in a fine arts
museum we should focus on the visual arts and leave the
technological aspects to a scientific museum."
The catalog for the exhibition is yet another coffee table book,
but Kuronen believes the photography is different and contributes
a sharper stylistic emphasis. He stated, "The catalog has a
photographic perspective that departs from the other guitar books
on the market. We show details and unusual vantagepoints to
depict the visual development of the guitar. The catalog has been
available for several weeks, and I have received many compliments
from professionals about the fresh perspective of the
photographs. In the bigger sense, those photographs emphasize
distinguishing features of specific guitars. I genuinely feel
that our catalog has heightened an awareness of the visual style
of guitars."
Apollo lyre guitar by Clementi & Co., circa 1810. From the
Frank and Anne Wigglesworth collection.
Kuronen lamented that the catalog did not provide more historical
answers about the evolution of the guitar. He explained, "We had
two years to prepare the exhibition. At the most basic level, we
needed to sift documented information from unsupported material
that had been published. We have properly researched the
descriptive material, but we have not had the time to research
key questions about the evolutionary process."
He then noted, "We received vital assistance on descriptive
reviews from scholarly collectors such as Richard Bruney. Richard
is a guitar maker [luthier] in Evanston, Ill., and he has been
the leading researcher of classical guitars. However, an
incredible amount of time is needed to determine a small amount
of information about baroque makers. It has even been
time-consuming to document the date of a guitar maker's death in
Twentieth Century America."
Kuronen continued, "From a scholarly point of view, our exhibit
establishes a baseline that another museum can build upon. There
is now one account with a descriptive outline. However, it is
true that many significant questions remain unanswered. In two
years, there simply was not enough time to find substantive
answers to those questions."
Kuronen described the experience he wants the public to have at
the exhibit. He enthused, "My hope is that visitors will leave
the museum saying, 'I had no idea! I never realized their had
been such a fluidity to the design of the guitar. The instrument
has been stretched to accommodate an extreme range of styles.' I
also hope people will enjoy the opportunity to view rare
instruments seldom if ever on view in America. Even guitar
enthusiasts will not have had a chance to view a Stradivari
guitar, baroque guitar, or harp guitar before. I hope they will
experience and appreciate this wonderful opportunity."
Early Guitars
Through most of its history, the guitar has been a folk
instrument that has been used informally and only incidentally
documented. In contrast, classical musicians have extensively
used violins, and have written about their use. The guitar is
thought to have originated in France and the Iberian Peninsula
during the mid Sixteenth Century, but only sketchy information
about the evolution is known.
The earliest guitar in the exhibit was created by Belchior Dias
of Portugal about 1590. However, like other of the Sixteenth
Century guitars, it has been extensively restored. In the
Twentieth Century the neck and entire top were replaced.
A less restored early guitar is a circa 1690 example attributed
to Jacob Ertel of Rome. As the illustration shows, this guitar
had the basic conformation that we associate with guitars. The
hollow body has two chambers or bouts, and the upper bout was
more narrow and shorter than the lower bout. A soundhole was
located near the waist and extended into the upper bout. A set of
strings was anchored to the top of the guitar body by a bridge,
and the upper ends of strings were tightened with tuning pegs
located in the headstock that extended above the neck.
On closer examination, however, the guitar differs significantly
from the modern guitars. The maximum body width is a little over
nine inches, less than two-thirds of the width of today's
acoustical guitars. Rather than six strings, this guitar has five
pairs of strings. The frets on the fingerboard (the topside of
the neck) are tied loops of gut that are adjustable in contrast
to the rigidly inset frets in today's fingerboard. The soundhole
is decorated with a pierced parchment insert. Extensive
mother-of-pearl inlay descends to the headstock and neck and then
encircles the body with both geometric and baroque details.
The top view misses the most striking visual field of the guitar.
The bottom and sides of the body and neck are inlayed with tiny
squares to create a parquetry design corresponding to a square
tile pattern seen in some Renaissance floors. This is one of a
dozen guitars in the exhibition that is displayed in the round,
and the view of its backside is memorable.
There are only two guitars by Antonio Stradivari known to exist,
and one of those is in the exhibition and also visible in the
round. The most striking feature of the guitar is the phenomenal
selection of woods. The sides and back are fashioned from tiger
maple with wonderful figure that is comparable to that seen on
Stradivari's violins. No other early guitar in the exhibit
features such fine maple. The top of the guitar has extremely
fine-grained spruce that probably grew on the shaded northern
slope of a mountain near Cremona. Today, American luthiers travel
to Newfoundland searching for wood of similar quality.
Lyre Guitars
As the guitar evolved, there were some variations that flourished
briefly before falling out of fashion. The most visually
beautiful of those was the lyre guitar, and France was the
leading producing nation. The lyre guitar came into fashion
around 1780 and faded from use around 1840. The one element of
the lyre guitar that may have been incorporated into the modern
guitar was the use of six single strings.
The lyre guitar was the first version of the guitar to gain a
foothold in England. They were displayed in drawing rooms, and
sometimes played by female amateurs. Unlike wind instruments,
they could be played in a graceful manner that attractively
presented the player.
Unfortunately, the lyre guitar looked more beautiful than it
sounded. The guitar produced a tubby sound - low, long persisting
chords lacking clear definition. When social fashion changed, the
lyre guitar lacked any lasting value as a musical instrument, and
it faded from use.
Classical Guitars
In the mid Nineteenth Century, the guitar reached the form we now
know as the acoustical guitar. While the guitar was sometimes
written into major compositions, it continued to be largely a
folk instrument enjoyed by amateurs. One aspect of the folk
tradition was that guitars were more elaborately decorated than
professional instruments such as the violin. If the violin is a
conservative instrument with little ornamentation, the guitar has
been a decorative billboard.
Romancer model guitar by Mastro Industries, circa 1960. From
the collection of Brian Fischer.
The return of Napoleon's ashes to France triggered an outpouring
of sentiment in 1840. An extreme example of pearl and abalone
shell inlay that memorialized the hero is the Antoine Anciaume
guitar that is on display. The neck of the guitar is covered with
column that spirals upward with each segment depicting one of
Napoleon's battlefields. On the headstock is a refined full
portrait of the emperor.
An important precedent for American guitars is a Johann Georg
Stauffer guitar of about 1830. When this guitar was produced, one
of the shop foremen was Christian Frederick Martin. In 1833,
Martin migrated to the United States, and he soon established
himself as the first American guitar maker of note. Martin
guitars closely resembled those produced by Stauffer. The most
immediately recognizable feature was the headstock in the form of
a scroll seen in profile and with all the tuning pegs to one
side.
Arch-Top Guitar
The folk instrument of choice in America from the late Nineteenth
Century through World War I was the mandolin. During the 1880s
Michigan luthier Orville Gibson adapted some features of the
violin to his mandolins. Around 1902 Gibson introduced those
features to his guitars that were intended to provide background
accompaniment for the mandolins.
Gibson began to carve curved tops and bottoms for his guitars
rather than following the traditional practice of using flat tops
and bottoms. The production of the arched surfaces was labor
intensive. The advantages were that the arch-top guitar had a
distinctive appearance, and it provided a different tone.
Orville Gibson sold his company in 1902, and new owners
successfully adapted the arch-top. In 1908 they produced the
Style 0 Artist model with a flamboyant style that reconfigured
the top section of the upper bout into a bold, asymmetrical
scroll. The base side of the bout was rolled into a scroll
punctuated with a white dot. The tenor side of the bout was
trimmed away. Visually this created a void that emphasized the
scroll on the opposite side. For the player, the cutaway provided
easier access to the frets used for higher notes. Cutaways in
various configurations have become common features of modern
guitars.
The arch-top became a staple guitar of the Gibson line for the
next six decades. Initially it was used to back up the mandolin,
and in the 1920s it backed up the banjo. However with
adjustments, the arch-top was configured to produce the volume
needed to cut through the sound of a jazz band, and it became a
popular lead instrument during the 1930s.
Electric Guitars
In 1932 the Rickenbacker A-22 model was introduced as the first
commercially successful electric guitar. It was played as a lap
guitar. Visually the components were somewhat discordant, but
acoustically the electromagnetic pickup was outstanding. In
profile, it resembled a banjo with its long neck and a disk stuck
on the bottom.
The solid body guitar was introduced in 1950 when Leo Fender
offered both the Esquire model and the Broadcaster (soon renamed
the Telecaster) model. By the end of the decade, the solid body
became the popular version of the electric guitar.
Stylistically Fender's first solid bodies deliberately followed
the profile of traditional guitars. In contrast to Rickenbacker,
he seemed eager to make a visual statement: "This is a guitar."
He certainly had seen experimental models that demonstrated the
stylistic license of solid bodies. Essentially, since the body no
longer functioned as sound chamber, the maker was free to make a
sculptural statement with the body.
In 1954 Fender produced a third solid body model called the
Stratocaster with an additional pickup and a whammy bar. The
fluid profile of this model adopted the prevailing concept of an
integrated flowing design that was the emerging aesthetic of its
time without totally abandoning the traditional guitar shape.
Flying V model electric guitar by Gibson, Inc., 1967. From the
collection of David Brewis.
Gibson entered the solid body electric guitar field in 1952 with
the Les Paul model. Paul had tinkered to produce a solid stick
prototype in the 1937 that demonstrated his appreciation for the
reduction of form possible with solid bodies. However it appears
that Gibson wanted its guitars to look like guitars, and the Les
Paul model conforms to a traditional guitar profile.
Since 1960 electric guitar makers have exploited the freedom of
form, decoration, and color offered by the medium to create
powerful visual statements. Within the range of consumer
products, the guitar has become one of the most freely designed
wares in commercial production.
Reverberating Chords
Musical instruments and clocks differ from most other antiques in
that they were intended to move and perform technical tasks. The
technological component adds a level of complexity not found in
paintings, furniture, or ship models. The guitar is a fascinating
synthesis of music, physics, and visual art. Since the MFA has
chosen to focus on the visual aspect, the bigger topic of the
entire synthesis remains available for another museum.
The writing associated with the exhibit falls a notch below
established standards for major exhibitions. Traditionally
prominent museums such as the MFA present several tiers of
exhibitions. At the core of major exhibitions are scholarly
catalogs that become the foundation of their field. For example,
Wendy Kaplan's The Art That Is Life revolutionized
America's understanding of the Arts and Crafts movement, and two
decades later remains the primary reference work in the field. In
contrast, the guitar catalog presents description listings, but
without powerful overarching essays. That is consistent with
catalogs produced for second tier exhibitions.
