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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Sixty Eight: A city portrait -- impressions of New York > Celebration, Wall Street, New York City, New York, 2010
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09-JUL-2010

Celebration, Wall Street, New York City, New York, 2010

Two fifers salute the Fourth of July during a reading of the Declaration of Independence in front of Federal Hall at Wall and Nassau Streets. Behind them loom the incongruously large bronze feet of George Washington, who was inaugurated on this spot in 1789.

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Phil Douglis09-Aug-2010 21:53
You are right about the British army wearing red coats during the Revolution, Rose. However, to confuse the matter, the Continental army often wore red coats as well. These uniforms are replicas of American uniforms, not British. The American uniform was often brown, white, and blue as well. Some units were not uniformed at all. Here is some info I found on the American uniforms:

"General George Washington was in charge of approving the uniforms worn during this time after the Secretary of War first approved them. Soldiers from various states along the east coast were assembled to fight in the war, with the first being a group of cadets under the leadership of Captain Mordecai Gist. These soldiers came mainly from Baltimore and were dressed in a red coat. What at the time was called a “hunting frock” worked well for the soldiers and was adopted by both officers and regular soldiers. While it would have been nice for all the soldiers to have the same color of uniform, it just was not possible, so some soldiers frocks were white while the others were scarlet. Red was certainly preferred, but white was often much more readily available than red so a unique compromise was made. The white uniforms were often dyed with coffee which would change the color, which was a method preferred by Colonel Caleb Gibbs. He had desperately wanted all the soldiers to have red uniforms, but it simply was not feasible so the “coffee stained” uniforms were a good way to avoid white, which Gibbs simply did not like.

In addition to the white, coffee colored and scarlet uniforms, yet another version of the uniform had a blue coat with white lining and red facing on the front and cuffs. Yellow buttons added yet another dimension to these uniforms. An infantry private would often be dressed in the similar blue, but in a vest with a red collar rather than a full coat."
sunlightpix09-Aug-2010 19:47
Another incongruity is the color. In the Revolutionary War, the British army wore red coats, hence the nickname "redcoats". I don't think the British celebrate American Independence. Your framing places the British soldiers beneath the feet of General Washington.
Phil Douglis09-Aug-2010 19:12
Great point, Rose. I cut them off at the knees to simplify the image and call attention to Washington's monumental boots here, but by doing so, I call attention to the double incongruity you spot here. Not only are Washington's feet incongruously large in scale here -- as you note, he is also incongruously cut off above the knees, just as the fifers below him are cut off below them.
sunlightpix08-Aug-2010 22:21
Great incongruity in your composition - you frame the fifers so that we cannot see them from just below their knees, and you frame the statue so all we see of it is just below the knees!
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