The Sculpture and Mural Decorations of the Exposition Part 8

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 ma.s.sing 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 ma.s.s from a kiln. It is a rich cloud, colorful with iridescent metallic l.u.s.tres. 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 plent.i.tude, 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 gra.s.ses, 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 ill.u.s.trated, 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 pa.s.sing 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 cla.s.sic 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 t.i.tle, "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 cla.s.sic 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; Gla.s.swork, 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 G.o.ddess 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 G.o.ddess 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 G.o.ddess, 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 Ca.n.a.l. 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," n.o.ble and timely tributes to the Workers who made the ca.n.a.l.

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 t.i.tle 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 Cla.s.sic 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 a.s.signed 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 ill.u.s.trated 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