Stella G. S. Perry

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In this introduction to the sculpture of the Exposition, it is unusually fitting that grateful recognition be accorded the memory of the sculptor whose lively faith in our growth, and tireless energy first launched the enterprise. Karl Bitter possessed more than any other American sculptor that breadth of vision that enabled him to discern talent - that generosity that enabled him to give praise where he believed it due - that suppleness of mind that could comprehend new concepts - and that sense of justice that avoided no obligation. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The Sun is taken as the symbol of the Cosmos, the enduring, the Day, the source of life. Man is pictured as clinging to it, in the hope of being freed from the encircling coils of his baser self and the old earthy entanglements that hold him down, and destroy him. This group and the main fountain, as well as the sides of the beautiful court, are mirrored in the long still pool in which the fountain stands - a pool properly free from splashes or springs as befits the setting of this intricate and massive work. ”

“ Their sister sprite at the top of the slender decorated shaft is mischievously aiming an arrow downwards. These Sprite Columns express the gay, frolicsome mood of the waters. Their feeling harmonizes more with the sea-weed and shell decorations of the court itself and its falling-water motif than with the weightier sculpture it contains. They create a pleasing ripple of merriment. Their light and airy modeling has the beauty of unconscious and unforced artistry. The columns stand just within the northern entrance of the court, guarding a vista of the bay. ”

“ In "Summer" is represented the earth's early fruition. A young mother lifts her new-born babe for its father's kiss. A gleaner harvests the grain. Over all is a gentle solemnity. In "Autumn," probably the most admired of the four, against the background of a fruit-bearing tree, a superb nymph bears proudly the full jar of wine or oil. On one side a crouched figure gathers a richly-laden garland of the vine; on the other, a youthful, kneeling female figure plays with a lusty child. ”

“ Each of the panels is once repeated. The panel of "The Triumph of Apollo" shows the fiery god 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, unassailable in the center of the fray. ”

“ Full of energy and spirit, the youth steps forward, physically rugged, of athletic prowess and sportsmanly character, intelligent, frank, clearbrowed, fearless and straightforward of gaze, bearing his books with care and ease and draped with the academic gown, symbol of scholastic achievement. To give this figure of young manhood the solemnity of a memorial and still keep it true to the hearty and cheerful vigor it depicts was a notable achievement. The setting in one of the arches of the Rotunda, with the lagoon and the landscape-planting in the background, is admirable. ”

“ A Panel, Fountain of Earth
In the panel of "The Survival of the Fittest" the battle of life is at its height. The men are in a furious struggle of strength and prowess. The interplay of human passions, the contests of wills and capacities, has developed. The women, too, are taking a conscious part in life, one weeping and shrinking from the fray, the other extending a restraining hand. ”

“ The plastic and pictorial decoration of an Exposition offer unusual opportunity to the Artist, at the same time imposing handicaps - the briefness of time, the poverty of material. It affords chances for experiment, invention, and originality only limited by the necessary formal settings of the architecture, out of proportion to the initiative of the artists, a majority of whom prefer, either from inclination or necessity, to take the safe course, the beaten path of precedent. Artists are of two kinds - the Imitators and the Innovators. ”

“ French is said to make no mistakes in composition; his precision is not dryness but technical ease and infallibility; his classical quality is not obedience to tradition but insight, into the underlying laws that made tradition. Here we have a splendid example of his perfection of mass, balance and finish and of quiet, inspiring depth and directness of feeling. Creation extends life-giving arms over the universe. Serene, brooding, blessing, the noble face emerges from mysterious shadows of the enveloping mantle. ”

“ Two stately "Guardians of the Arts," one male, one female, of godlike 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. ”

“ Thus, in sculpture we have imitations, conscious or unconscious, of the Greek, of Michael Angelo, Donatello, Rodin, Barye, Meunier, Saint Gaudens; in painting, of Besnard, Merson, Monet, et cetera, as well as some more complex personal notes, more difficult to relate, although they too are related in the main, adding only another variation of character to the great mass of human ideality. As in nature, there is nothing absolutely pure - nothing that can exist totally unrelated to the whole - so it is in art. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Art is praise and all things in life are its subjects.
The group "Harvest" surmounting the great niche in the Court of the Seasons is a fine placid thing - and the bull groups on the pylons are time-honored, virile conceptions strikingly placed.
The three-tiered sculpture groupings of the Tower of Ages make rich appeal in relation to the romantic architecture.
There are groups in niches in the west walls that will remain caviar to the general, but which are conceived with a fine sense of decoration, and need only a touch of relation to reconcile them to the observer. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Miss Longman has expressed her as exultant, regal, young - far less matronly than as conventionally pictured - glorying in her power to bless the cooperative labors of man and nature. She holds as her sceptre the stalk of corn, and offers the crown of summer to the world. The central figure is not more lovely than the pedestal base on which she stands. A frieze of dancing maidens, wrought in cleancut low relief, Greek in manner, celebrate the Harvest feast. In the accompanying illustration, the groups on pylons, by Albert Jaegers, already described, may be seen in the background. ”

“ Streams of water by day, clouds of luminous steam by night, give it the effect of swimming out of chaos. The powerful panels of Earth are boldly modeled in pierced relief, giving statuesque realism as well as the picturesqueness demanded of a panel. ”

“ Rodin, the emancipator of modern sculpture, and a notorious anarchist as regards architecture, is not always applicable. The imitation of his style induces a negation of modeling only in evidence in one of his manners of execution.
There is a vague tendency voiced by some critics to advance the theory that the real future democracy of art depends on the verdict of the man in the street. This is ridiculous. The future of art depends on no one class of men, aristocratic or democratic. It depends on all men. Art is neither democratic nor aristocratic. ”

“ Like the Fountain of Youth it is connected by legend with early Spanish exploration in America. Long ago, the story goes, there lived in Mexico or South America a golden king who scattered treasures along his path. El Dorado and his realm have long been symbols of the elusive gold sought by mankind in all ages and every clime.
In this fountain by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, it is not the mere possession of wealth that is so sought, but those joys of which our mistaken imaginings make gold the symbol. In the central composition here pictured, the Gilded One has vanished through the portals. ”

“ The Goddess of the Plentiful Harvest sits in the slope of an overflowing cornucopia; a sheaf of ripe wheat rests in her supporting arm; she is attended by a lad who can scarcely lift the weight of fruit he bears. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ It gives the required height and balances the howdah on the elephant in the companion group, the Nations of the East, on the opposite archway. The spirit of Enterprise, a kneeling figure whose encircling wings carry the rewards of the world, calls aloud to summon initiative, encouragement and perseverance to the brave and adventurous who advance our progress. This Enterprise is the pioneer spirit that discovered and developed America. At the feet of Enterprise sit the Hopes of the Future ”

“ The pyramidal composition is massive and the Eastern spirit nobly sustained. On pylons before both arches, Leo Lentelli's Guardian Genii - calm, impressive, winged spirits - guard the universe. The unity of men and nature are denoted by the Rising and Setting Sun fountains, the row of Stars, the Zodiac friezes and the Elements. ”

“ Art is so much a part of life that to discourage it is to discourage life itself - as if one would say: "Others have lived; all imaginable kinds of life have been lived. Therefore it is unnecessary for you to experience life." ”

“ 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. ”