|
Wildflower Garden Exhibit, Colonnade
One of the most varied and interesting talents among the younger men of distinction who have exhibited in the Department of Fine Arts is that of Edward Berge of Baltimore. The entire originality and freedom from mannerism with which each subject is met, and the variety of the subjects themselves, are worthy of note, as are also Mr. Berge's singular lightness and fluidity of method. His correctness is apparently unlabored. No small piece has more admirers than this sweet and merry little "Wildflower." A secret of her appeal may lie in the fact that the artist is the father of the model. The little girl, crowned with a wildflower, posed with the pertness of a wayside blossom, her hands extended like pointed leaves, has a roguishness and playful grace that charm. With something of the same humorous whimsy Mr. Berge exhibits a Sundial showing a nude baby, buxom and cuddlesome, embracing a new doll while the old one lies discarded, illustrating the legend, "There is no Time like the Present."
The Boy with the Fish Garden Exhibit, Colonnade
Bela Lyon Pratt, widely esteemed for his vital and imposing serious works, of which a splendid collection here exhibited has been awarded a gold medal, has amused himself and all of us with this jolly little garden piece, "The Boy With the Fish." It is a unique bronze, never to be reproduced or copied. Though hundreds of persons have wished to purchase replicas, no one can ever do so, for the owner stipulated with the sculptor never to allow reproduction. The moulds have been destroyed. But no one can stop the joyous memory in many minds of this spirited little elf, riding a turtle, struggling with his slippery fish and having so much fun about the difficult feat. One of Mr. Pratt's more serious works that is attracting the deserved attention of Exposition visitors is "The Whaleman," a detail of his noble Whaleman's Memorial. This sculptor has done much to encourage individuality and earnestness among the younger men, not only by example but also in his capacity of instructor in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Young Diana Garden Exhibit, Colonnade
Janet Scudder, an American artist whose work has been as highly honored in France as in her native land, is known chiefly for her poetic and happy expressions of the out-of-door spirit. Her fountains and garden pieces are small and sportive but intensely sincere and never trivial. She has a pagan sense of natural imagery and a deep feeling for childhood. Her finish is delicate and perfect. The "Young Diana," here illustrated, girlish, with singularly natural untrammeled grace - slender, beautiful and novel in conception - was awarded honorable mention in the Paris Salon of 1911. The young goddess of the chase, the moon and of maidens, is presented as still more of a maid than a goddess, glad with the freedom of girlhood, unconscious of her Olympian inheritance. Miss Scudder has received the distinction of having one of her fountains purchased by the Metropolitan Museum in New York. This is the Frog Fountain which, loaned by that Museum, appears in the Palace of Fine Arts. Her "Little Lady of the Sea," also here exhibited, received notable consideration in the Paris Salon of 1913. She is the holder of a silver medal awarded by the present Exposition.
Young Pan Garden Exhibit, Colonnade
One of the charms of the Exposition lies in the fact that the long rainless summer and beautiful plant-life of California permit the garden pieces to be displayed out of doors in the setting desired for them by their sculptors. This little Pan of Janet Scudder's, for instance, is far happier in his appropriate mass of foliage than if he were inside of a gallery. "Young Pan," a garden figure, is witty, elfin, very engaging. He is a seaside Pan instead of the woodland dweller usually portrayed. His foot is - rather recklessly one would think, were this not a magical, superhuman being - placed heel-down upon the back of a great crab. A pretty pedestal base, with sea-shell decoration, supports the baby god. This base, by the way, Miss Scudder attributes as the work of Laurence Grant White. Pan is enjoying the music of the two long pipes he blows-playing one of the unplaced wild lilts of nature, we may be sure. This sense of enjoyment and his debonair little swagger are festive and delightful. His mischievous gaiety communicates itself to the beholder. This humorous quality appears in another merry little god by the same sculptor, her "Flying Cupid," close at hand.
Fighting Boys Garden Exhibit, Colonnade
Another evidence of the charm of outdoor installation is seen in Miss Scudder's Fountain of the Fighting Boys, so beautifully placed, with the waters in actual play, in the Peristyle Walk about the Fine Arts Palace. The original of this little fountain is owned by the Art Institute of Chicago. There can be no doubt that this fight is without rancor; the faces of the cherubic contestants are so gay and good-natured that only the determined little tug of the hair, the business-like pressure of chubby knee upon knee, the uncertain possession of the big fish that is the cause of contention, makes us see that a battle is raging. The boys fight merrily, evidently enjoying both the contest and the downpour of water that complicates it. An unexpected accidental beauty has been added to this and all the Exposition fountains. Some colorful substance in the water that plays upon them has given soft touches of the same rich ochre tone that appears in the columns. This increases the effectiveness and takes away the appearance of boldness or newness, substituting a weather-beaten and permanent aspect. When long spires of flowers are in bloom and reflect their beauty in this little fountain pool, the gayety and loveliness of the spot are entrancing.
Duck Baby Garden Exhibit, Colonnade
The contagious mirth of "The Duck Baby," a garden figure by Edith Barretto Parsons, is irresistible. This plump little image of good cheer conquers the most serious; every observer breaks into answering chuckles as this smile-compelling small person, holding fast her victims, beams upon them. The frieze of busy ducklings on the pedestal base adds to the amusing impression. This figure makes such a universal appeal that thousands of postal card pictures and amateur photographs by exposition visitors have been sent in a steady stream throughout the land, scattering the Duck Baby's good cheer far and wide ever since the Exposition opened. In the presence of so much that is weighty and powerful, this popularity of the "Duck Baby" is significant and touching indication of the world's hunger for what is cheerful and mirth provoking. Another well-liked and winsome work with a chubby baby figure at its center is "The Bird Bath" by Caroline Risque, in which a lovable baby, with an expression of the tenderest sympathy, holds a little bird to his breast.
Muse Finding the Head of Orpheus Garden Exhibit, Colonnade
Under the branches of a low tree the poetic group by Edward Berge, "Muse Finding the Head of Orpheus," a white marble group of superior elegance and texture, arrests the passerby. A Muse kneels, drooping in exquisite pathos over the head of Orpheus found in the waves. The sculptor has chosen the tragic side of the Orphean myth. The son of Apollo and the Muse Calliope, whose heaven-taught lyre charmed men and beasts, melted rocks and even opened the gates of Erebus, had failed to win from death his bride, Eurydice, lost to him for the second time. As he wandered disconsolate, the Thracian bacchantes wooed him in vain. Maddened by failure and by their bacchanal revels, they called upon Bacchus to avenge, and hurled a javelin upon him. But the music charmed the weapon, until the wild women drowned it with their cries. Then they dismembered the singer and threw him to the waves; but the very fragments were melodious and reached the Muses, who buried them where the nightingale still sings "Eurydice." So runs the allegory; even drowned by earthly clamors, slain and torn by wanton hands, the song of Poetry continues, the weeping Muses save.
Diana Garden Exhibit, South Lagoon
In a setting of surpassing appropriateness and beauty, installed high amid the tall shrubbery as if emerging from the edge of one of her own forests, the huntress Diana points the arrow she is about to let fly. This rendering by Haig Patigian, who made the heroic Powers and other decorations on Machinery Hall, is simple, classic, pure, imaginative, poetic in purpose and in effect. He has softened the traditional coldness of the goddess by a warmer humanity without injuring the sense of proud aloofness. The Maiden goddess of the Hunt bears in her hand the crescent bow, its lines here strongly suggestive of those of the young moon, of which it is the symbol and this goddess the deity. Mr. Patigian exhibits in the Colonnade a companion piece, "Apollo, the Sun God," twin brother of Diana. A vivid figure of manly grace, Apollo is presented in the guise of the sun of the morning. He kneels and shoots an arrow upward; the long, pleasing curve of his bow suggests the outline of the sun above the horizon as Apollo releases his first bright shaft of light.
Eurydice Garden Exhibit, Colonnade
This "Eurydice," by Furio Piccirilli, pictures the nymph as standing against the background of an echoing rock, listening to the distant strains of the magic lyre of her lover, Orpheus. Orpheus had been taught to play by Apollo, his father, and could enchant the animate and inanimate world by his music. So he charmed the nymph, Eurydice; but Hymen, god of marriage, refused to prophesy happiness at their nuptials and soon Eurydice, in escaping from a pursuer, trod upon a snake, was bitten and died. Orpheus' sorrowful music moved all the earth to pity. Even Pluto and the keepers of Erebus relented, allowed the musician to descend into their forbidden realm and lead Eurydice back to life, provided he should not turn backward to gaze upon her until they reached the world of mortals. But the lover could not resist the desire to assure himself of her presence, looked, and lost her forever. Furio Piccirilli, who made this marble, is the sculptor who has graced the Exposition with the four Fountains of the Seasons in the Court of that name. For this "Eurydice" and his other small group, "Mother and Child," he has taken a silver medal.
Wood Nymph Garden Exhibit, Colonnade
Isadore Konti, from whose hand came also the inspiring, panels at the base of the Column of Progress, described in a preceding page, is the sculptor of this pretty "Hamadryad." The Dryads and Hamadryads lived, according to old legend, within the trunks of trees and perished with their homes. So it was an impious act to destroy a tree without cause. This nymph of the woods has emerged from the tree-trunk home or from some rocky fastness and taken the urn of a naiad, a sister nymph of brook and fountain, to give drink to the gentle, confident fawn that is her charge. The little animal is lapping the stream that flows from the overturned vase. This study in white marble follows tradition and is regarded chiefly for its gentle grace and careful tooling. It is harmoniously composed and has a beautiful surface. Mr. Konti's varying moods are, represented in the Fine Arts collection by a number of works, each revealing a different intention - from the pretty and restful, like this, to the large and stirring.
L'Amour Garden Exhibit, Colonnade
There are few more complete examples of delicacy of feeling and of refined, caressing perfection of tooling than this exquisite marble group, "L'Amour," by Evelyn Beatrice Longman. The purity of its emotion, the tenderness and fidelity of its poignant pose, are surpassed only by the marvel of surface finish. The surface has been gone over so lovingly, so painstakingly, so repeatedly that the marble has taken on the soft, warm impression of living flesh. And the gentle unstrained modeling has the plastic grace of the human body. Miss Longman, winner, by the way, of a silver medal for exhibits in the Fine Arts, is the maker of the Fountain of Ceres in the Forecourt of Seasons that has been described. She is an earnest and serious artist of abundant talent whose work is treated with ever-increasing respect and admiration. She won the competition for the doors of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, for which there were many distinguished aspirants. She presents Love in the group under discussion as a rarefied and inspiring emotion in which the physical and spiritual commingle and "sense helps soul" as well as "soul helps sense."
An Outcast Garden Exhibit, Colonnade
This epic figure, "An Outcast," compelling by its earnestness and the tragedy of its motive idea, is handled with firmness, assurance and a perfect sense of volume and sculptural mass values. It is exhibited by Attilio Piccirilli, the artist who designed the Maine Memorial in New York City. The appeal of "An Outcast" is too direct to need any illumination. Its frank bigness and physical power and tenseness, so suggestive and so desperate, are Rodinesque. But though the work is influenced by that master's school and thought, it is by no means a copy of his method. This sculptor has a number of interesting groups in the exhibit palaces and has been granted a gold medal. The dejected and desolate Outcast, so huge and so tragic, is in sharp contrast with the quaint and fanciful "Fawn's Toilet," by the same hand, at the entrance to the Colonnade. Attilio and Furio Piccirilli, whose work has been here noticed, are brothers, members of a family of sculptors.
The Sower Garden Exhibit, Colonnade
One of the most useful services of a great Exposition, especially as it relates to the world of art, is its service in bringing to the attention of the public the power of new and rising stars on the horizon of achievement. Albin Polasek has made his work generally felt at this Exposition, where he received a silver medal. He is one of the most talented sculptors of the American Academy at Rome. He won honorable mention in the Paris Salon in 1913, and the Prix de Rome in 1910. He was the holder of the Cresson scholarship. His "Sower" was the culminating work of his early labors, the product of his final year at Rome, in which year a heroic figure is required of every student. It caused the critics to prophesy for this sculptor the future that is developing. Mr. Polasek's work has the same unassailable rigor of truth as that of Charles Grafly, who was his teacher. "The Sower" ennobles an humble theme. It has sweep and life and distinction of bearing. In "The Girl of the Roman Compagna," close at hand in this Colonnade, the sculptor shows his equal power in a softer theme. The Roman girl is a well-poised and beautiful expression of the spirit of old Rome in the days of her grand simplicity.
The Bison Garden Exhibit, South Approach
These mighty monarchs of the plains, now disinherited by human progress, the American bisons, are here more than portrayed; they are realized. Their essential characteristics, their strong mass, bulky without clumsiness, are made present and convincing in these two statues by A. Phimister Proctor, a master of animal sculpture. There is good reason for the living and sharp aspect of these plaster models. They are not copies of the permanent statues; they are the sculptor's own original plasters from which the permanent pieces were cast. A number of Mr. Proctor's animal studies stand in the great zoological parks of our nation. He does not idealize or humanize the beasts he depicts; but he understands them and reverses the underlying life that gives them their racial and personal individuality. Partly his Canadian love of the wild, partly a technician's delight in mastering this difficult phase of art, has caused a lifelong devotion to animal studies. They are not photographic, but combine the qualities of sculptural beauty with rugged and imposing freedom. A varied and stimulating collection of Mr. Proctor's work, exhibited at the Exposition, has won a gold medal. It includes the famous "Princeton Tiger."
The Scout Garden Exhibit, South Lagoon
Cyrus Edwin Dallin has devoted many years and much of his high talent to the poetry and beauty of the American Indian. He says that this Scout is to be the last of his long series of Indian studies, and he believes it to be the best of them all. Surely it has an exalted beauty and is a noble example of Mr. Dallin's firm, finished, accurate method, perfection of restraint and free grace of modeling. It has a clear and beautiful directness that is almost Greek in feeling. Those who do not believe in the picturesqueness and dignity of the Indian as celebrated in these bronzes, need only to have seen the photographs in the exhibit of the Indian Memorial booth in the Palace of Education. Some of the chiefs there shown have the dignity of Caesar and the knightly splendor of heroic periods. Copies of almost all the Dallin Indians and other of his notable works appear in the Palace of Fine Arts, where Mr. Dallin is a gold medalist; They include the famous "Appeal to the Great Spirit," which stands before the Boston Museum of Art.
The Thinker Exhibit, Court of French Pavilion
It is a satisfaction that at the entrance to the Pavilion of France should stand this great work of the master sculptor of our age. This is a replica of "Le Penseur" (The Thinker), placed before the doors of the Pantheon in Paris. Paul Gsell says of it: "Before us, the Thinker, his fist beneath his chin, his toes clutching the rock upon which he sits, bends his back beneath the overpowering weight of a meditation that surpasses the endurance of the human spirit." Here, tremendous, rugged, primitive human strength at its highest power suffers under the first great grapple of the human mind with problems of the unknowable universe. It is majestic, true, an expression of our age; it is everlasting art. Rodin kept this replica outdoors for a long time, thinking the rigor of the elements helpful to its finish. "The Thinker" and other Rodins in the French Pavilion are loaned by Mrs. A. B. Spreckels of San Francisco. Americans and American museums have long appreciated this master of whom Octave Mirbeau says: "Not only is he the highest and most glorious artistic conscience of our time, but his name burns henceforth like a luminous date in the history of art."
Earth Fruit Pickers, Court of Ages
In the corners of the ambulatory about the Court of Ages, crystallizing the color and design of its long, arched ceiling, are the opulent, warm, vibrant murals by Frank Brangwyn. They introduce to the general public of America this Belgian-English artist who has long been esteemed among the great of the world. He has presented here the Elements, two interpretations of each, in relation to their service to simple human life. The paintings are neither allegorical nor photographic, but highly interpretative of the luxuriant picturesqueness of nature and the everyday labors of man. The luminosity of color, dash and daring of contrast, fairly crackle with life and yet have rich depths of quietness. The two panels of Earth glow with the earth's abundance. The first, the "Fruit Pickers," here shown, in which harvesters gather fruits from high trees and the laden ground, is notable for its marvelous massing of composition and color. The second, "Dancing the Grapes," is remarkable for its shimmering contrasts of light and shade. In both you get the tang of the harvest season.
Fire Industrial Fire, Court of Ages
The two Fire panels represent this element in its two phases of serviceability. The first shows its simplest use, that of giving warmth to man; the second, its more developed employment as an agent of manufacture. In the "Primitive Fire," a gray, woodsy plume of smoke rises to the autumn sky. A group of workers have made a fire at the edge of a grove; they surround it, some encouraging the growing blaze by blowing upon it, others leaning forward toward its warmth. The thin pillar of waving smoke is executed with such fidelity that it explains why this artist's admirers dwell upon his handling of fugitive surface tones, as smoke or clouds, as much as upon his more obvious excellences. In "Industrial Fire," here reproduced, the smoke rises not in fine line, but in heavy mass from a kiln. It is a rich cloud, colorful with iridescent metallic lustres. Workers feed the blaze, their warm flesh glowing in the mixed light. Whole vessels and broken bits of pottery are heaped and scattered upon the ground.
Water Fountain Motive, Court of Ages
As the Earth panels are luxuriant, teeming with a sense of plentitude, and the Fire panels are moving with the grace of rising smoke, those that represent the phases of Water are moist and lush. In the one here shown, "The Fountain," people have come through the damp grasses, bearing their bright vessels to fill them with water that flows downward from a spring in a long, fine, curving bow. The beautiful grouping, the pose of the figures and the graceful lines of the vessels are unforgettable. The air is fluid; great white clouds stretch across the sky, which has the same liquid beauty as the water in the background. Water-birds and dewy flowers add life and color. The grateful use of water for man's thirst is beautifully told. In the other water panel, "The Net," hardy fishermen, standing in the water-reeds and blossoming flag-lilies, haul in the last catch of the brightly dying day. Others bear on their heads baskets heavy with the success of earlier castings. Heavy sea-clouds are tinted by the late afternoon sunshine.
Air The Windmill, Court of Ages
The two panels of Air may well be thought of as the air that moves and the air that supports. In the first, "The Windmill," which is illustrated, the motion of the wind and of the world it blows is dazzling. The field of, golden grain, bright in the glow of the sun that has just broken through the rain clouds, is quivering with graceful undulations. The great wings of the windmill turn, with flapping sails. The little kites are blown tempestuously. The garments of the workers wave forward as they walk, braced against the wind that blows from behind them. A brilliant rainbow and wind-blown dark rain-clouds tell the end of a passing storm. In the second Air panel, which is called "The Hunters," the air supports the arrows just shot from the bows of hunters who hide behind the last trees at the edge of a wood. It bears also flocks of homing birds and light clouds blown across a ruddy sunset sky.
Half Dome Court of the Four Seasons
The murals in the Court of the Four Seasons are the work of Milton Herbert Bancroft. They are smooth, flat, highly decorative to the wall surfaces into which they blend with rare discretion and harmony. They have a soft beauty of coloring and a classic definiteness of outline that accord well with the pure feeling of this court. Mr. Bancroft has kept two ideas consistently throughout these murals. One is the abundance of rewards and delights brought by the changing seasons; the other, the fruitful labors of man. In this second idea special honor is tendered to those who labor in the arts and artistic crafts. To these two ideals the sculptor has given the unifying title, "The Pleasures and Work of the Seasons." The panels of The Seasons appear in the walls of the fountain niches. In the place of honor is the beautiful Half Dome; beneath its colorful decorated roof are the great, panels, "Man Receiving Instruction in Nature's Laws" and "Art Crowned by Time." In the former, Nature holds her child, Man, in her arms. She has summoned for him all the forces of the Universe, who attend in a group of calm dignity. She teaches him that by obedience to her laws all these forces, Earth, Fire, Water, Life, and even Death, will serve and never harm. The other panel is described on the following page.
Art Crowned by Time Court of the Four Seasons
In this calm and classic panel, "Art Crowned by Time," the sculptor has done honor not only to the Fine Arts but also to those artistic crafts that fulfill the perfect combination of use and beauty. In the center of the panel stands Art, a superb, regal figure, serenely indifferent to the wreath of appreciation with which she is being crowned by the hand of Time. She is surrounded by her attendants, the Useful Crafts: Weaving, with her distaff; Glasswork, holding carefully a delicate example of her skill; Jewelry, a beautiful youth severely garbed, bearing an ornate casket; Pottery, with a finished vase upon her knee; Smithery, carrying in his strong arm a piece of armor; and Printing, cherishing in both hands a beautiful clasped book. The panel has a fine Olympian dignity and an ornateness that becomes simplicity through grace of handling, and does not mar the correct mural flatness of surface. In spite of the gracefully composed grouping each figure has individual, almost statuesque, distinction. The treatment of the draperies is interesting.
The Seasons Court of the Four Seasons
The fountain niches of the Seasons in the Court of the Four Seasons are graced by Milton Herbert Bancroft's appropriate panels. Two of these, one on each wall of the fountain niche, are devoted to each season. One represents the pleasures that that period of the year brings forth for man; the other shows the duties it demands of him. In "Spring," we have the poet's conception of the time of blossoms and garlands, of young loves, piping shepherds and dancing maidens, while the goddess of the season dreams of coming glories. In the companion panel, "Seedtime," the waiting farmers attend her as she stands, sceptered with an Easter lily, and extends her benison on the land. "Summer" crowns the victors in athletic sports; while in "Fruition" the goddess of the season receives the tribute of the successful workers of the soil. The panel called "Autumn" is gay with the dance of the vineyard festival; three happy figures modeled with grace and much refinement are placed on a background divided into panels by a vine. But "Harvest" is quiet and serious; the goddess, bearing the torch of Indian Summer, receives the sheaves of the gleaners. So in "Winter," one panel shows Festivity, with the old bard, the Christmas garland and the gaieties of the home; the other, the distaff by the fireside, the huntsman and the wood-cutter.
Westward March of Civilization Arch, Nations of the West
Decorating the inner walls of the Arch of the Setting Sun are two long, colorful panels by Frank Vincent Du Mond, inspired by the historical background of the West. They have refreshing vividness of color, clear precision of draughtsmanship and a bright enthusiasm for their subject. With a narrative quality unusual in a mural they commemorate the adventurous spirit that led a stable civilization in the march across the continent of America. In the panel, "Leaving the East," emigrants depart from a barren, snowy coast, upon which stands the meeting-house, source of so many national traditions. A youth bids farewell to his sorrowing friends; a group of adventurers bearing the bare necessities of life leads the way to the frontier. In the central group, surrounding the old Concord wagon laden with household goods, appear the Jurist, Preacher, Schoolmistress, the Child - Symbol of the Home - the Plains' Driver and the Trapper. A symbolic figure, "The Call of Fortune," accompanies them. Some of the characters are actual portraits, as are also the Artist, Writer, Scholar, Architect and Sculptor in the opposite panel, "The Arrival in the West." In this the lavishness and opulence of California welcome the pioneers. Mr. Du Mond is a member of the International Jury of Awards in the Fine Arts Department of the Exposition.
Discovery - The Purchase Tower of Jewels
The murals in the great tower are properly dedicated to the Panama Canal. In them William de Leftwich Dodge admirably interprets its history, labors and triumphant achievement. Each of the long decorative bands is divided into three panels. The central panels, 96 feet long, are, on the west wall, "The Atlantic and the Pacific," celebrating the united nations face to face across the united waters, and on the east, "The Gateway of All Nations," an allegorical pageant of triumph. The "Gateway of All nations" is flanked by "Achievement" and "Labor Crowned," noble and timely tributes to the Workers who made the canal. Those here reproduced, opposing them on the western wall, are historic. "Discovery" shows Balboa, "on a peak in Darien," in awe at his great moment of discovering the Pacific. The Spirit of Adventurous Fortune attends him. Watching him, sits the Indian guarding his treasures, a tragic prophecy in face and figure. "The Purchase" commemorates the part of France in this achievement. Columbia is purchasing the title from her sister republic. American workmen, led by Enterprise, take up the tools that French laborers have relinquished.
Ideals of Emigration Arch, Nations of the East
The mural panels in the Eastern arch are devoted to the ideals and motives that brought men across the sea. They are by Edward Simmons and show that fresh juvenility of touch, that exquisite lucid tenderness of color and gentle lightness of motion that give his work its delightful poetic quality. But Mr. Simmons' art has always a deep accent and the imagery in these panels touches fundamentals. "Visions of Exploration," the upper as here pictured, are Hope and Illusory Hope - she who casts bubbles behind her - Adventure, following the lure of the bubbles; then, in a dignified central group, Commerce, Imagination, Fine Arts and Religion; these, followed at a little distance by Wealth and The Family, potent motives of the immigrant of today. In the background, the Taj Mahal and a modern city indicate the ideal and the practical. On the opposite panel, called the "Lure of the Atlantic," the Call of the New World, a youth blowing a trumpet, summons the brave explorers, the man of Atlantis, of the Classic Age, of Northern and Southern Europe, the Missionary Priest, the Artist and the Modern Immigrant. They are followed by the Veiled Future, still hearkening to the onward call.
The Golden Wheat Rotunda, Palace of Fine Arts
The richly ornate ceiling of the Rotunda of Fine Arts is embellished by a double series of eight panels from the brush of Robert Reid, in the luminous, fervid, joyous vein that characterizes the method of this highly honored American artist. The task assigned him here was a test of skill. The arched effect, so beautifully achieved, and the great accomplishment of merging the huge, brilliant panels into the decorative plan, were not the only difficulties. He had also to calculate the scale of proportion to a mathematical nicety, to make the figures large enough to appear the proper size when viewed so high overhead. The panels are in two sequences, four of them devoted to each subject. The sequence of which an example is illustrated is the Four Golds of California: "The Golden Poppy," the "cup of gold" that makes the spring a glory on California hills; "The Golden Fruit," the citrus fruits that are her pride; "The Golden Metal" that called the world to her hill-sides, and "The Golden Wheat," here shown, the treasure of her fields, borne high in honor. These alternate with the sequence of the Golden Arts, described on the succeeding page.
Oriental Art Rotunda, Palace of Fine Arts
The great panels of the Golden Arts alternate, in the ceiling of the Rotunda of Fine Arts, with the Four Golds of California. All of these panels so tone their brilliancy into the great sweep of the ceiling that the beholder gets a sense of the beauty of the whole rather than that of any part. This arching, floating unity of the ceiling is an admirable example of the self-control of the muralist. The Golden Arts are interpreted by symbolic groups including a larger number of figures than The Four Golds. They are entitled "Inspirations of All Art," "Ideals in Art," "The Birth of European Art," and "Oriental Art," here illustrated as typical. In this, against the soft but sparkling background of bright sky and clouds that supports all of the panels, are set with much verve the historical, legendary and romantic inspirations of Oriental art. The group is dominated by a contest between an eagle and a knight mounted upon a dragon - based upon a legend of the Ming dynasty. Fugi, the sacred mountain, is in the distance; the sacred dog attends the Chinese hero in the foreground. A beautiful Japanese woman - indicating the inspiration of romance, East and West - sits among flowers. The space is filled in a manner appropriately and charmingly suggestive of Oriental composition.
The Arts of Peace Netherlands Pavilion
The Pavilion of The Netherlands is inevitably reminiscent of the Peace Palace of The Hague, by natural association of ideas and because of the spirit of its central mural painting, "The Arts of Peace." It is therefore an interesting fact that Hermann Rosse, the artist who painted this imposing work, and, indeed, designed the entire interior decoration of the pavilion, was also muralist and decorator of the Palace of Peace. The pavilion walls and hangings - steel blue, olive green and silver grey, relieved by quaint conventional stencils of orange trees and tulips and severe shields of the four divisions of the kingdom - has a broad, cool puritanism that lends itself well to the rich depth of the painting. Holland holds high the image of Peace, surrounded by the peace-nurtured arts and industries on whose support all human welfare rests. Among them stand not only representatives of trades and crafts, with their symbols and implements, but also the Art of Motherhood and the Art of Play shown by a happy child. Ships of all ages in side-panels and background tell of the maritime history of Holland which so largely and peacefully colonized the world. Beneath the painting is a comforting and inspiring legend.
Penn's Treaty with the Indians Pennsylvania Building
The Pennsylvania Building was designed with the patriotic purpose of enshrining the Liberty Bell. The Bell stands in a loggia between two wings, the architectural motif following that of Independence Hall. On the walls of the loggia are two mural lunettes of distinction by Edward Trumbull of Pittsburg. Their deep glowing color and massive grouping mark Mr. Trumbull a worthy pupil of his master, Frank Brangwyn. "Penn's Treaty with the Indians," here given, shows William Penn and the foremost of his shipmates on "The Welcome" making with Chief Tamanend and his braves the Treaty of Shackamaxon in 1683, the treaty that never was broken. The plainness of the kindly Friends, the barbaric splendor of the Indians, the deep green of the overarching Treaty Elm and the lovely typical Pennsylvania landscape have enduring attraction. The panel is in contrast with Mr. Trumbull's vigorous and burning modern picture, "The Steel Workers," on the opposite wall. In the reception room of this building are seven delightful small panels by Charles J. Taylor, showing the early life of Pennsylvania villages. They are painted in the quaint style of old colonial decorations and have charm, humor, naivete and beauty too pleasing to be overlooked.
Return from the Crusade Court, Italian Pavilion
The courts and palaces of Italy, with their appearance of age and their remote, sheltered calm, present an education in artistic reserve and decorative uses of space that all who linger may learn. They represent four centuries of architecture, of three historic types. The lovely piazzetta with its antique well is the center of beauty. On one of its walls is what appears to be an ancient mural, soft, flat, with that faded, velvety coloring associated with age. It was recently painted by Mathilde Festa-Piacentini, in the ancient manner to harmonize with the court. It represents "The Return from the Crusade" of one noble Pandolfo, and bears date and description in Latin. Quaint old-time stiffness and weather-worn coloring combine with modern correctness and fluency. The young artist is the wife of the architect of the pavilion and has won a silver medal in the Italian section of Fine Arts. Below this lunette stands a bronze copy of an antique David with the marble head of Goliath. Other interesting murals appear in Italy's pavilion, by Pierretto Banco and Bruno Ferrari, son of the sculptor, Ettore Ferrari.
The Riches of California Tea Room, California Building
The tea-room of the Auxiliary to the Woman's Board, in the California Building, was decorated by Florence Lundborg, a Californian whose work has won consideration in this country and in France. In her large mural, "The Riches of California," one of the most extensive ever painted by a woman, and in the supplementary medallions she has expressed the generous abundance of California's fruitage. Feeling a similarity between copious California and Sicily, where she has lived and painted, the artist chose for her text a line from Theocritus describing that country: All breathes the scent of the opulent summer, the season of fruits. This inscription, in old Spanish lettering, surrounds the great canvas. Across a restful, soft-toned landscape, bright but tempered, the peaceful, happy harvesters bear homeward the plenteous fruit. A mood of quiet gladness is over all. The window arches, throughout the soft gray walls of the room, are marked by brilliant medallions of fruit and flowers, sumptuously composed upon a gold background.
Here ends The Sculpture and Mural Decorations of the Exposition, with an introduction by A. Stirling Calder. The Descriptive titles have been written by Stella G. S. Perry. Edited by Paul Elder. Published by Paul Elder and Company and seen through their Tomoye Press under the typographical direction of H. A. Funke, in the city of San Francisco during the month of October, Nineteen Hundred and Fifteen
THE END |
|