Post #74631 by bigbrotiki on Thu, Feb 5, 2004 11:03 AM

On 2004-02-05 09:26, naugatiki wrote:
One thing that is strange about that map is when you see it up close and even in TBOT you'll notice that it is divided in quarters just like someone unfolded a road map and framed it.

Good eye there, naugatiki! The reason is that Miguel Covarrubias DID paint the maps on panels, to preserve them. He invented a flat duco lacquer with a nitrocellulose base. He diluted his medium with lacquer thinner, added pure dry pigment, then applied that combination to his masonite panels. Each brush stroke embedded particles of color into the lacquer; when the piece dried it was hard and water resistant, the color sealed inside a clean, clear shield.

This is why they survived the tearing down of most of the SF Expo buildings on Treasure Island, they were simply dismounted. But this is also why the Tiki map is declared as lost, the only one not returning from a loan of all six maps to the New York Museum of Natural history only years after the SF Expo closed.

Somewhere there is an Oceanic art collector that has a nice mural in his den...or it lies packaged in some storage, collecting dust, like the Ark Of The Covenant in the ending shot of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (always reminding me of what vast amount of Oceanic art treasures lie in the vaults of the world's Natural History Museums, undisplayed because of lack of space and budget).

Luckily the Tiki map was massproduced and printed for years in poster form together with the others.
Let's just hope the 5 maps now in storage will not suffer the "Ark" fate of oblivion. Let's keep on top of that, kids!

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki on 2004-02-05 11:09 ]