ABSTRACT
Sound is not stone, and vanishes with the wind. The historian cannot catch the voices which echoed in the past. Yet he cannot forget that no written language is identical with its spoken counterpart. The usage of words and structures of sentences, to say nothing of lilt, timbre, and accent, significantly affect the meaning conveyed. The indirect means of seeing must serve when the original has disappeared or is unavailable for direct inspection. Visual material in abundance survives as physical evidence. Even for the ancient civilizations, the explorations of archaeologists have uncovered a multitude of objects-entire cities, buildings, boats, armor, and tools-that speak eloquently about their makers. Every visual object is also an illustration of something. Selectivity is essential and achievable only by integrating the visual with other evidence. Sound, like sight, has functions discernible from the context. American artists inherited a tradition that focused their attention on external reality.
