My brother, Ken, emailed me an image entitled “Human Statue of Liberty” the other day that fascinated me enough to do some research into the photographer who created it. Here’s what I learned:

Arthur S. Mole (1889-1983) was a British-born commercial photographer who worked in Zion, Illinois, just north of Chicago. During and shortly after World War I, he traveled with his choreographic collaborator and partner, John D. Thomas, from one military camp to another posing thousands of soldiers to form gigantic patriotic symbols that they photographed from above. Mole called them “living photographs.” From the photographer’s perspective, the emblems were brought to life by means of the living soldiers who embodied them.

The formations depicted such images as the Statue of Liberty (click to enlarge), the Liberty Bell, the Marine Corps emblem and a portrait of President Woodrow Wilson. The Statue of Liberty portrait, for example, was formed using 18,000 officers and men at Camp Dodge, Iowa, and stretched over 750 feet. The photo was apparently intended to help promote the sale of war bonds but  never used. Note the way spatial depth and perspective are defied - there are twice as many men in the flame of the torch as in the entire rest of the design!

Mole and Thomas spent a week or more preparing for these immense works which were taken from a 70-80 foot tower with an 11X14 inch view camera. They began by tracing the desired image on a ground-glass plate mounted on Mole’s camera. Using a megaphone, body language and a long pole with a white flag tied to the end to point to the more remote areas where the bulk of the troops would be stationed, Mole would then position his helpers on the field as they nailed the pattern to the ground with miles of lace edging. In this way, Mole also figured out the exact number of troops required. These steps were preliminary to the many hours required to assemble and position the troops on the day of shooting.

According to a July 3, 1986, story in the Fort Dodge Messenger, “On a stifling July day in 1918, 18,000 officers and soldiers posed as Lady Liberty on the parade grounds at Camp Dodge. … Many men fainted - they were dressed in woolen uniforms - as the temperature neared 105 degrees Fahrenheit.”

The monumentality of this project somewhat overshadows the philanthropic magnanimity of the artists themselves. Instead of prospering from the sale of the images produced, the artists donated the entire income derived to the families of the returning soldiers and to this country’s efforts to rebuild their lives as a part of the re-entry process.

When the demand for these photographs dropped in the 1920s, Mole returned to his photography business in Zion. But many examples of his patriotic photographs in true perspective still exist. Mole and Thomas images are in the collections of the Chicago Historical Society, the Museum of Modern Art and the Library of Congress.