Photographer Unknown
Butte Hill Diorama at Montana Historical Society
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Evidencing a great backdrop and great lighting, this diorama, displayed at the Montana Historical Society bears study by model railroaders and any diorama builder. Their diorama of Butte Cooper Mine on Butte Hill, Montana makes great use of the
reduced scale technique. A section of the website “Helena As She Was,” for
the Montana Historical Society (
http://helenahistory.org/montana_historical_society.htm)
has a photo of this diorama labeled “Depicted are
Marcus Daly, Ben Ali Haggin, and George Hearst.” These men along with Lloyd
Tevis purchased the Anaconda Mine in Butte, MT in 1881, so it is certainly
plausible the diorama depicts this mine. Interestingly, George Hearst was
the father of William Randolph Hearst.
Sure, no railroad is modeled in this diorama but pay no mind to that.
Why does reduced scale work here? For one, its figures are posed near the scene front while its mine is posed to the rear. Between them is a short expanse without scale to give the technique away. What do we mean by "no scale"? For instance, a model automobile would have scale; one could easily compare the automobile's size to modeled people. If the model auto were somewhere in between the figures and the mill and it were the same scale as the figures, then we would realize that it was not that far from them. Viewers would instantly realize the figures and the auto shared the same scale should the eye note that those people could easily get inside the vehicle's door opening.
Why - following David Wright - do I describe this technique as "reduced scale" rather than the more popular term "forced perspective." For purists, Forced perspective is an entirely different technique. This diorama fools the eye by using features with two different scales - one scale is reduced, hence the description "reduced scale". With forced perspective we exaggerate perspective lines to fool the eye in a different way; I have written a blog posting that explains further through examples of the difference.
Also note these five male figures modeled are posed behaving with some purpose in mind; this is a technique model railroaders can employ to the benefit of their layout.
An inquiry to this society reveals they had a series of dioramas which they donated to other museums; only this and the Buffalo Jump Diorama remain in Helena. A society representative offered that they have no record of who built this diorama constructed sometime in the 1950s. Personal note - I hate it when museums dispose of dioramas - it has happened elsewhere (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History).
Montana Historical Society
225 N. Roberts
Helena MT 59620
4016 444-2694
Revised December 20, 2020
Revised January 5, 2022
Revised February 26, 2022
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