The Sculpture and Mural Decorations of the Exposition Part 5

The Genius of Mechanics Column Friezes, Machinery Hall

All of the sculpture about the Palace of Machinery partakes appropriately of the size and strength of that huge building which houses the world's progress in mechanical arts. The sculpture, like the building, is Roman rather than Greek in type and modern American in vigor and expression, as are the chief contents of the Palace. The sculptor, Haig Patigian of San Francisco, has expressed this combination with power and virility. The frieze here ill.u.s.trated appears at the base of ma.s.sive columns, interestingly made of simulated Sienna marble, the warm tones truly reproduced. The frieze is extremely energetic, although well restrained, and supports the great column as a basic frieze should do, especially when its subject is so appropriate to the purpose. Two winged Genii, one holding a pulley, one upholding the column upon his hands, alternate with two Disciples, for whom their extended wings create a background. One of these is complemented by hammer and anvil, the other by furnace and tongs. Both share the column's weight on powerful arms. The imaginary figures show potential strength in repose, the human figures potent strength in action. The frieze in low relief is colorful and decorative.

The Powers Column Finials, Machinery Hall

High upon the mighty columns that surround, relieve and give color to the immense facades of Machinery Palace, are Haig Patigian's masculine and trenchant figures "The Four Powers." These are of heroic height, and create an impression of superhuman size and strength even when raised so far above the ground. They have a simple robustness that accords well with their theme. Two of the Powers are abstract, the driving powers of thought; these are Invention and Imagination. Two are concrete, representing the mightiest powers of modern mechanics, Steam Power and Electric Power. Steam Power is forcing the driving arm of an engine; Electric Power, the world at his feet, handles the lightnings. He wears the winged cap of Mercury, messenger of the G.o.ds, for electricity is the messenger of modern days. Invention, crowned with the bays of achievement, holds in his hand a bird-man about to leave the earth; Imagination, accompanied by the eagle making ready to soar, dreams with closed eyes.

Pirate Deck-Hand Niches, North Facade of Palaces

The northern facades of all the palaces along the Marina are beautifully embellished above the vestibules with an intricate plateresque decoration, modeled after portals in Old Spain. In the three ornate statue-niches - in the original probably devoted to saintly images - are romantic figures by Allen Newman. It is appropriate that these figures facing the water-front should represent, as they do, the Conquistador and the Pirate Deck-hand, who once were masters and terrors of the main.

The Conquistador stands in the central canopied niche, the strong line from his helmet-point down his sword-hilt making a grimly decorative axis for the whole. The Deck-hand is repeated in the niches on each side. This ruthless minion of sea adventurers is here pictured beyond the urchin's dreams. The line of the rope he carries is a touch of excellently handled decoration. Both these figures are so well harmonized architecturally and sculpturally to their pedestals and location that the entire facade should be seen for their proper appreciation.

From Generation to Generation Palace of Varied Industries

In the portals on the south side of the group of palaces, facing the Avenue of Palms, we have again the beauteous old Spanish doorways in plateresque design, with niches filled with modern sculpture. The portal of the Palace of Varied Industries, copied from a famous prototype in the old hospice of Santa Cruz, in Toledo, Spain, was a.s.signed to Ralph Stackpole. He is a sculptor who delights to honor the laborer and the craftsman and has supplied the figures for niches and keystone s.p.a.ce and the tympanum and secondary groups in the portal of Varied Industries with evident affection. He treats the subject of labor with dignity, according it respect and not sentimentality. In this secondary or crowning group, a strong young man is taking the burden of labor from the shoulders of the last generation - an old workman, bowed but still hale and vigorous. There is a sense of responsibility and earnestness in the group, but complete confidence and power. It might well have been feared that these rugged types of American life might ill accord with the ancient ornate doorway. But the decorative proprieties have been thoroughly sustained.

The Man with the Pick Palace of Varied Industries

In the repeated niches following the line of the archway in the portal of Varied Industries, described in the foregoing page, appears Ralph Stackpole's "Man With the Pick," a manly tribute to the intelligent, self-respecting workman who is the basis of our national life. There is a frank and unaffected realism in the work that attracts by its uncapitulating sincerity. Its impression of rugged power and self-respect saves it from becoming merely photographic, and its plastic feeling is excellent. In this and the preceding group, as also in the keystone figure and the tympanum, the courageous employment of the actual commonplace garments of everyday labor instead of idealized draperies has met success. The tympanum group is called "Varied Industries." It appreciates the various daily labors of mankind through which civilization continues and is almost devotional in its expression - "in the handicraft of their work is their prayer."

The Useful Arts Frieze Over South Portals

Another artist who appreciates the spirit and enterprise of our own day and finds inspiration in its humble labors is Mahonri Young. This feeling appears in much of his work and is notable in the panel of "Useful Arts," as also in the niche figures that flank it and are really part of the conception. These appear over the handsome portal arch of the Liberal Arts Palace. The beautiful grouping of the many figures in the panel is a delight; the planes of perspective are skillfully handled, without in the least marring the flat surface requisite in a mural panel. This panel of "Useful Arts" does honor to skilled labor.

Men and women are shown busy with the spinning-wheel, the anvil, the forge and other implements of skilled craft. Satisfying figures in the niches, the Woman with the Distaff and the Man with the Sledge-Hammer, continue the same idea. Mr. Young's place in art is unique in that he has won distinguished consideration in three branches - painting, etching and sculpture. In the Palace of Fine Arts he exhibits twelve etchings and nine works of sculpture, several of each devoted to the phases of life expressed in this panel.

Triumph of the Field Niches West Facade of Palaces

In the western facade of the Palaces of Food Products and Education are examples of the new tendency in sculpture. These are "The Triumph of the Field" and "Abundance" by Charles R. Harley, the modernist. He has made them intricate and teeming with imagery, giving the beholder much food for study and personal interpretation. These works have been useful in arousing much artistic discussion. They endeavor to express a mood of richness, fullness and success and have the effect of laden chariots in a triumphant pageant. In "The Triumph of the Field," Man sits upon the skeleton head of a steer, surrounded by a mult.i.tude of symbols indicative of festivals of agricultural success in the past. Some are pagan, some Christian. Above his head is the wheel of an antique wagon; he holds crude farm implements of long-past days. In "Abundance," the companion piece, Nature, a female figure, sits in the prow of a ship, surrounded by the abundance of land and sea. Her hands are extended; one, in order to receive greatly; the other, that she may greatly give.

Worship Altar of Fine Arts Rotunda

This lovely, adoring figure, pure, devoted, appealing, emblematic of Art Tending the Fires of Inspiration, is placed upon the Altar before the Palace of Fine Arts and can be seen only from across the waters of the lagoon. Her perfect self-surrender to her holy task of guarding inspiration's flame is a sermon and a poem. She is the worshipful spirit for whose reward the glow of genius is sent. She is an image of the perfect reverence for an ideal. It is interesting to note that she is by the same hand that fashioned those rugged laborers on the portals of the Palace of Varied Industries, that of Ralph Stackpole. The altar of Fine Arts, separated from the beholder by the whole width of the beautiful lagoon, set before the great rotunda and surrounded by sculptured barriers and growing green b.u.t.tress walls of flowers that quite shut it off from all access of the pa.s.serby, has the effect of a shrine. This sense of seclusion adds much to the impressiveness of the statue.

The Struggle for the Beautiful Frieze, Fine Arts Rotunda

A surpa.s.singly beautiful contribution to the Exposition art has been made by Bruno Louis Zimm in his panels of Greek culture. These lovely panels in low relief, surely worthy of a permanent medium, are set in the attic of the Rotunda or Belvedere before the Palace of Fine Arts, used and known as the Temple of Sculpture. The panels express not so much the historical Greek tradition - though they are, indeed, produced in the purest Greek manner - as they do the high spirit and ideals of Greek art, the devoted seeking for divine fire, the determined opposition to the trivial and the base. Each of the panels is once repeated. The panel of "The Triumph of Apollo" shows the fiery G.o.d of Inspiration, Music and the Sun in a procession of worshipers; his flaming wings are the rays of the sun. The panel of "The Unattainable in Art" might well be called "The Struggle for the Beautiful." It pictures the unending struggle with the gross and stupid, both objective and subjective, that confronts the champion of the beautiful. Art stands serene, aloof, una.s.sailable in the center of the fray. The panel of "Pegasus" shows the winged steed of the poets controlled by a true aspirant, attended by Music, Literature and Art.

Guardian of the Arts Attic of Fine Arts Rotunda

Two stately "Guardians of the Arts," one male, one female, of G.o.dlike proportions and great dignity, are placed in the attic of the Fine Arts Rotunda, separating the panels of Greek culture. They are the work of Ulric H. Ellerhusen, who has shown a keen perception of the structural necessities involved in these immense details. The Rotunda of Fine Arts, the temple of Sculpture, is one of the most interesting architectural features of the Exposition. It is the culminating beauty of the marvelous colonnade of Fine Arts Palace, its chief distinction. Within are some of the treasures of the exhibit sculpture. Under the arching dome are Robert Reid's mural paintings described in a later place. The Weeping Figures on top of the colonnade itself are also by Mr.

Ellerhusen. They express the humility that enn.o.bles the true artistic spirit and distinguishes it from the spurious. Instead of the self-satisfied Triumph or Victory that might be expected to crown this last of the Exposition palaces, these represent the spirit of Art weeping at the impossibility of achieving her dreams.

Priestess of Culture Within the Fine Arts Rotunda

High on the decorative columns that mark the great arches within the beautiful Rotunda of Fine Arts, stand, repeated, the peaceful, dignified and serene "Priestess of Culture," by Herbert Adams, an angelic figure, modeled with the control and calm that fittingly express the mission of culture upon the earth. Indeed the work of Mr. Adams may be said generally to be characterized by that probity and intellectual beauty ministering to the purposes of culture. These figures are harmonious ornaments to the richly decorated ceiling which they touch and to which they give a certain tranquillity. The slope of their wings connects gracefully with that of the arches; this, with the quiet beauty of the drapery and its accord with the line of the cornucopia, creates a restful architectural effect. It is a pleasant coincidence that these Priestesses of Culture look down upon the statue of William Cullen Bryant by the same sculptor, an exhibit piece, charmingly installed at the entrance to the great Rotunda.

Frieze Flower Boxes, Fine Arts Colonnade

The very large flower boxes bearing ma.s.ses of luxuriant California shrubs that mark the Peristyle Walk in the Fine Arts Colonnade are constantly admired for their own beauty, the beauty of their contents and their part in the general effectiveness of the delightful Colonnade they enrich. The friezes are by Ulric H. Ellerhusen, who made also the Weeping Figures and the heroic "Guardians of Arts" already described. It is interesting to note that the precision of handling has given this design, in spite of its size, an exquisite delicacy. Standing at charmingly balanced intervals, a circle of maidens bear a heavy rope-garland. This rope makes a gratifying line that has given pleasure to connoisseurs. The frieze is so successful largely because, though frankly decorative as suits its purpose, its personality and charm distinguish it from the pattern-like or conventional. The landscape planting in the boxes, in the flower beds and above, is one of the enduring attractions of this colonnade and walk. The green is architecturally ma.s.sed and the relief of flowers bright and delicate, never intrusive.