In his landscapes,
在科尔的风景画中
Cole often included America's indigenous peoples.
美国土著经常出现
But they are invariably dwarfed by the vastness of the scene,
但和广阔的风景相比 他们总是相形见绌
as though they themselves
好像他们只是
are merely features of the natural world.
自然世界的景观特征
The embodiment of the Enlightenment idea of the noble savage -
启蒙运动思想的化身 高尚的野蛮人
an idealised, uncorrupted people,
理想化未受玷污的人们
living a pure life, connected to nature.
过着单纯的生活 与自然共处
But underpinning Cole's work
但支撑科尔作品的
was a fear that the American wilderness and its inhabitants
是担心美国的荒野和土著人
would inevitably be tamed, even destroyed,
会在新帝国形成的过程中
in the process of creating a new nation.
不可避免地被驯服甚至毁灭
In his masterpiece, an allegory of civilisation in five paintings,
在他的代表作 五幅讽喻文明的画作之中
Cole fused landscape with an imagined history,
科尔在风景画中融入了想象历史
to challenge mainstream ideas about America's future.
挑战关于美国未来的主流观点
These five paintings tell an epic story,
这五幅画讲述了一个史诗故事
the story of the rise and fall of a great civilisation.
伟大文明的兴盛与衰落
And they're influenced by a historical theory
它们受到一个历史理论的影响
that saw the past as an endless cycle of rises and falls,
该理论认为过去就是兴衰的无尽循环
and that was popular in the 19th century.
这一理论盛行于十九世纪
It begins with what Thomas Cole called the Savage State.
这一系列始于托马斯.科尔的《蛮荒时代》画作
This is a primordial Earth.
这是原始社会
There's a hunter chasing a stag across the landscape.
画中猎人在追赶雄鹿
In the background is his village,
背景是他的村庄
which is a cluster of animal-skin tents,
由几个兽皮帐篷组成
which look almost exactly like the tepees of the Plain's Indians.
几乎和大平原印第安人的圆锥形帐篷一样
And this supposedly savage state was the level of civilisation
这个所谓的蛮荒时代所处的文明阶段
that many Americans thought
是很多美国人认为的
that the Native Americans have reached before the arrival of Europeans.
美洲土著在欧洲人到来前达到的水平
But it's the next stage, the Arcadian, the Pastoral State,
但下一阶段的《田园生活》
that in many ways is Thomas Cole's ideal.
则是托马斯.科尔的完美理想
In this painting, mankind has discovered agriculture.
在这幅画中 人类探索出了农业
There's a farmer ploughing his field,
农民在犁地
there's a shepherd with his flock.
牧羊人在放羊
And because food is now plentiful,
因为食物充足