With an artistic vision comparable to Man Ray,Philippe Halsman and Helmut Newton, young photographer Kenneth J.Dulian presents the ages old fascination with lighthouses in a newlight.
Lighthouses have been around in one form oranother nearly as long as human civilization. However, throughout the20th century, radar and other navigational systems have graduallymade lighthouses nearly obsolete. At least, this is the case in themodern Western world. All the same, we have not lost any of ourfascination with them. Thanks to the Kenneth J. Dulian, we areenriched with a new way of seeing the objects of a timelessfascination. He provokes us to think about lighthouses in such a wayas to awaken within us feelings of longing and reunion.
What exactly is a lighthouse, and whatsignificance did it once have? The lighthouse is a tower-likenavigational aid which emits a strong light, making it visible fromlong distances. In the past, this light was given through the burningof wood or coal, and it was necessary that a caretaker be present atall times. They were installed at important points on the coast, onlakes, islands, and especially dangerous shallow waters. Today, mostlighthouses function without a human caretaker, since they havebecome fully-automated. Also, they don't have to be fed with wood orcoal. And where lighthouses are no longer used, we still let them -fortunately - stand. They remind us about earlier times, and theyguide memories back to us from the boundless oceans of ourchildhood.
Comparison with the great masters ofphotography
The eye of the observer who is well-versed in theart recognizes that the creative source of Dulian's talent comes fromhis aesthetic love of beauty and harmony, as well as a fascinationwith the mysterious, traits which have distinguished the greatphotographers. Here we remember the American Man Ray (1890-1976), theLatvian Philippe Halsman (1906-1979) and the German Helmut Newton.The photographs of these talents have become highly paid for works ofart, and they belong to the great private and public collections,like the Smithsonian Institute, as well as museums in America,Europe, and Japan. Man Ray was a photographer of artists and of artsin the first half of the 20th century in Paris. He was a cult figureand a pioneer in the art of photography. The cosmopolitan Halsmanaroused special attention as a photographer when in 1941 he workedtogether with the surrealist Salvador Dali in the United States.Halsman, who worked for leading international magazines as a photoartist, created surrealistic photographs with a power of expressionnever before achieved. Helmut Newton became world-renowned as beingthe photographer of the most beautiful women and men of our time.
When we observe the lighthouses of the newcomerDulian, we remember these great masters of photography, because inhis work we see a distinct composite Ray's art photography, Halsman'ssurrealism, and Newton's compositional understanding of the humanform: Dulian doesn't always stand up the lighthouses, pointing themstraight up towards heaven. No! With one shot, Dulian may photographthe motives in the style of a classical painting. But then sometimesDulian chooses to capture the structure from the lower-left toupper-right portions of the frame, or even sideways ahead. The towerseen in the picture thus becomes a flying object. Perhaps thesecompositions signal an imminent "start" of the artist Dulian into theworld of portrait, nude and landscape photography?
The light, soaring state in many of his artisticphotographs symbolizes a bridge between the past and the future, yetat the same time, Dulian connects our thoughts and glances with theancient heritages of our mercantile past.
Famous Lighthouses of antiquity: Pharos andRhodos
The list of the wonders of the world, put togetherin the third century BC, contained seven structures and art works,which were considered to have surpassed all others in grace, beauty,and splendor. The pyramids of Giseh, the hanging gardens of Babylon,the temple of Artemis in Ephosos, the sculpture of the Olympic Zeusfrom the sculptor Phidias, and the mausoleum in Halikarnassos and theColossus of Rhodos. The other two structures werelighthouses.
The most well-known lighthouse of the antiquitywas built in 260 BC on a peninsula in front of what is today thenorth Egyptian city of Alexandria. It was the 120-meter highlighthouse of Pharos. In its time, the mighty tower was the higheststructure in the known world. According to historical calculations,one could see the light from the ocean from as far as 30 miles fromthe coast. However, according to history, the magnificent structurewas destroyed by an earthquake at some time in the 13thcentury.
Rhodos is a Greek island off the south-west coastof Asia Minor. It had been inhabited by humans for over 1000 yearsbefore Christ. Rhodos was one of the most important strategic andpolitical points in the known world. It had a great importance forseafaring. It is here that the Colossus of Rhodes stood.
The Colossus was a 32-meter high statue of thesun-god Helios, yet this monumental sculpture also served thepractical purpose of a lighthouse: In one hand - so they say - Heliosheld a torch. According to our knowledge, the god stood astrideacross the entrance to the harbor, and the ships sailed under thestatue of the god. Around the year 227 BC the Colossus of Rhodes wasdestroyed by an earthquake. It was built by the Greek sculptor Charesfrom Lindos around the year 300 BC. It is an old dream of Rhodes andof many friends of lighthouses of antiquity that some day this wonderof the world would be rebuilt. In the year 2002, some scientists andthe German sculptor Detlef Krebs have started an attempt toreconstruct the figure of this "divine lighthouse."
Since Roman times, the Spanish bay of La Coruna,on a coast of granite cliffs in the north-west of Spain, was afishing and trade harbor. It is here that the last remaininglighthouse of antiquity in Europe can be found. It is called "Tore deHercules" (The Tower of Hercules). And to the oldest, still remainingtowers in Europe belong the lighthouses in the North Sea and the inthe East Sea in Germany.
Lighthouses are a part of tradition andculture
The lighthouses on the coasts and lakes of Americaand Canada cannot look back on such an old age. Yet to this day,these structures of our ancestors have certainly lost nothing oftheir ability to fascinate us. The art photographs of Kenneth J.Dulian bear this out. More than being merely pictures and historicaldocuments, his photographs also makes us conscious of the richsymbolism of these structures: Aside from their practicalsignificance for our ancestors, lighthouses are and will remainsymbols for help, hope, orientation and guidance. Again and again,poets and thinkers have referred to persons as being "lighthouse."Thus, the biographer of Alexander the Great, the French writer RogerPeyrefitte, called the classical sculptor Arno Breker a lighthouse inthe art of the 20th century, which radiates into a new era. Similarpraises have also been directed towards scientists like AlbertEinstein, as well as significant democratic, political and religiouspersonalities.
If at the present time Kenneth J. Dulian bringsabout through his individual, emphatic and unmistakable photographs anew gateway to the appreciation of these structures and theirhistorical heritage, then he achieves something worthwhile: Heencourages the preservation of these structures, even if they are notactually needed any more. Lighthouses are a part of our technologicaland mythical culture. They belong to the roots of our common Americanhistorical heritage. Yet there is another benefit of Dulian'slighthouses: They seem to be taking off for a flight into theuniverse. Yet for many of us this imaginary universe is the creativeuniverse of longing and dreams. The question stands: doesn't thisuniverse lie in all of us? And is it not, quite regrettably, quitedormant in many of us as well? Perhaps the transport to andsubsequent awakening of this realm is the true value of Dulian'swork, as all great art and poetry.
Clarence, New York
February 10, 2002