Chapter 1

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Sculpture of the Exposition Palaces and Courts

Descriptive Notes on the Art of the Statuary at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition San Francisco

By Juliet James

To A. Stirling Calder who has so ably managed the execution of the sculpture, and to the vast body of sculptors and their workmen who have given the world such inspiration with their splendid work, this book is dedicated.

Foreword

What accents itself in the mind of the layman who makes even a cursory study of the sculptors and their works at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition is the fine, inspiring sincerity and uplift that each man brings to his work. One cannot be a great sculptor otherwise.

The sculptor's work calls for steadfastness of purpose through long years of study, acute observation, the highest standards, fine intellectual ability and above all a decided universalism - otherwise the world soon passes him by.

It is astonishing to see brought together the work of so many really great sculptors. America has a very large number of talented men expressing themselves on the plastic side - and a few geniuses.

The Exposition of 1915 has given the world the opportunity of seeing the purposeful heights to which these men have climbed.

We have today real American sculpture - work that savors of American soil - a splendid national expression.

Never before have so many remarkable works been brought together; and American sculpture is only in its infancy - born, one might say, after the Centennial Exposition of 1876.

The wholesome part of it all is that men and women are working independently in their expressions. We do not see that effect here of one man trying to fit himself to another man's clothing. The work is all distinctly individual. This individualism for any art is a hopeful outlook.

The sculpture has vitalized the whole marvelous Exposition. It is not an accessory, as has been the sculpture of previous Expositions, but it goes hand in hand with the architecture, poignantly existing for its own sake and adding greatly to the decorative architectural effects. In many cases the architecture is only the background or often only a pedestal for the figure or group, pregnant with spirit and meaning.

Those who have the city's growth at heart should see to it that these men of brain and skill and inspiration are employed to help beautify the commercial centers, the parks, the boulevards of our cities.

We need the fine lessons of beauty and uplift around us.

We beautify our houses and spend very little time in them. Why not beautify our outside world where we spend the bulk of our time?

We, a pleasure-loving people, are devoting more time every year to outside life. Would it not be a thorough joy to the most prosaic of us to have our cities beautified with inspiring sculpture?

We do a great deal in the line of horticultural beautifying - we could do far more - but how little we have done with one of the most meaningful and stimulating of the arts.

Let us see to it, in San Francisco at least, that a few of these works are made permanent.

Take as an example James Earle Fraser's "End of the Trail." Imagine the effect of that fine work silhouetted against the sky out near Fort Point, on a western headland, with the animal's head toward the sea, so that it would be evident to the onlooker that the Indian had reached the very end of the trail. It would play a wonderful part in the beauty of the landscape.

Or take Edith Woodman Burroughs' "Youth." What a delight a permanent reproduction of that fountain would be if placed against the side of one of the green hills out at Golden Gate Park - say near the Children's Playground - with a pool at its base. It is only by concerted action that we will ever get these works among us. Who is going to take the lead?

The Contents

Introduction The Fountain of Energy The Mother of Tomorrow The Nations of the Occident The Nations of the Orient The Alaskan The Lama The Genius of Creation The Rising Sun Descending Night Winter The Portals of El Dorado Panel of the Fountain of El Dorado Youth The American Pioneer Cortez The End of the Trail Panel from the Column of Progress The Feast of the Sacrifice The Joy of Living The Man with the Pick The Kneeling Figure The Pegasus Panel Primitive Man Thought Victory The Priestess of Culture The Adventurous Bowman Pan Air The Signs of the Zodiac The Fountain of Ceres The Survival of the Fittest Earth Wildflower Biographies of Sculptors Sculpture Around the Fine Arts Lagoon

The Illustrations

The Fountain of Energy - A. Stirling Calder, Sculptor The Mother of Tomorrow - A. Stirling Calder, Sculptor The Nations of the Occident - A. Stirling Calder, Frederick Roth, Leo Lentelli, Sculptors The Nations of the Orient - A. Stirling Calder, Frederick Roth, Leo Lentelli, Sculptors The Alaskan - Frederick Roth, Sculptor The Lama - Frederick Roth, Sculptor The Genius of Creation - Daniel Chester French, Sculptor The Rising Sun - Adolph Alexander Weinman, Sculptor Descending Night - Adolph Alexander Weinman, Sculptor Winter - Furio Piccirilli, Sculptor The Portals of El Dorado - Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Sculptor Panel of the Fountain of El Dorado - Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Sculptor Youth - Edith Woodman Burroughs, Sculptor The American Pioneer - Solon Hamilton Borglum, Sculptor Cortez - Charles Niehaus, Sculptor The End of the Trail - James Earle Fraser, Sculptor Panel from the Column of Progress - Isidore Konti, Sculptor The Feast of the Sacrifice - Albert Jaeger, Sculptor The Joy of Living - Paul Manship, Sculptor The Man with the Pick - Ralph Stackpole, Sculptor The Kneeling Figure - Ralph Stackpole, Sculptor The Pegasus Panel - Bruno Louis Zimm, Sculptor Primitive Man - Albert Weinert, Sculptor Thought - Albert Weinert, Sculptor Victory - Louis Ulrich, Sculptor The Priestess of Culture - Herbert Adams, Sculptor The Adventurous Bowman - Herman A. MacNeil, Sculptor Pan - Sherry Fry, Sculptor Air - Robert Ingersoll Aitken, Sculptor The Signs of the Zodiac - Herman A. MacNeil, Sculptor The Fountain of Ceres - Evelyn Beatrice Longman, Sculptor The Survival of the Fittest - Robert Ingersoll Aitken, Sculptor Earth - Robert Ingersoll Aitken, Sculptor Wildflower - Edward Berge, Sculptor

Sculpture of the Exposition Palaces and Courts

"The influence of sculpture is far reaching. The mind that loves this art and understands its language will more and more insist on a certain order and decorum in visual life. It opens an avenue for the expression of aesthetic enjoyment somewhere between poetry and music and akin to drama. - Arthur Hoeber

The Fountain of Energy

A. Stirling Calder, Sculptor [See Frontispiece]

The Fountain of Energy is a monumental aquatic composition expressing in exuberant allegory the triumph of Energy, the Lord of the Isthmian Way. It is the central sculptural feature of the South Garden, occupying the great quatrefoil pool in front of the tower. The theme is Energy, the Conqueror - the Over Lord - the Master; Energy, mental and physical; Energy - the Will, the indomitable power that achieved the Waterway between the Oceans at Panama. The Earth Sphere, supported by an undulating frieze of mer-men and women, is his pedestal. Advancing from it in the water at the four relatively respective points of the compass, North, South, East and West, are groups representing the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans and the North and the South Seas; groups richly imaginative, expressing types of Oriental, Occidental, Southern and Northern land and sea life. The interrupted outer circle of water motifs represent Nereids driving spouting fish. Vertical zones of writhing figures ascend the sphere at the base of the Victor. Across the upper portions of the sphere, and modeled as parts of the Earth, stretch titanic zoomorphs, representing the Hemispheres, East and West. The spirit of the Eastern Hemisphere is conceived as feline and characterized as a human tiger cat. The spirit of the Western Hemisphere is conceived as taurine and characterized as a human bull. The base of the Equestrian is surrounded by a frieze of architecturalized fish and the rearing sea horses that furnish the principal upper motif for the play of water. Energy himself is presented as a nude male, typically American, standing in his stirrups astride a snorting charger - an exultant super-horse needing no rein - commanding with grandly elemental gesture of extended arms, the passage of the Canal. Growing from his shoulders, winged figures of Fame and Valor with trumpet, sword and laurel, forming a crest above his controlling head, acclaim his triumph. The Fountain embodies the mood of joyous, exultant power and exactly expresses the spirit of the Exposition. Its unique decorative character has been aptly described as heraldic, "The Power of America rising from the Sea."

A. Stirling Calder

The Mother of Tomorrow

A. Stirling Calder, Sculptor

With upturned face, with steady onward gaze, the stalwart Mother of Tomorrow moves ahead. Hers is the firm, determined purpose, the will to do - to accomplish that for which she has started. She marches ahead of the types of the Occident. It has taken all these types striving with common purpose to produce the future, therefore they form the Mother of Tomorrow, the matrix from which the future generations are to come. Mr. Calder's high, splendid ideals are directly mirrored in this one figure. It is not hard to read the man in his handiwork.

The Nations of the Occident

A. Stirling Calder, Frederick Roth, Leo Lentelli, Sculptors

Into the great Court of the Universe, from the top of the Arch of the Occident, march the types of men who have made the Western civilization. From left to right - the French-Canadian, the Alaskan, the German, the Latin-American, the Italian, the Anglo-American, the Squaw, the American Indian. In the center of this well-balanced pyramidal group, surmounted by Enterprise and drawn by sturdy oxen, comes the old prairie schooner. To right and left atop are seen the Heroes of Tomorrow - one a white boy, the other a negro type. In front marches the splendid Mother of Tomorrow.

The Nations of the Orient

A. Stirling Calder, Frederick Roth, Leo Lentelli, Sculptors

Atop the Arch of the Orient is the superb tableau representing the types of men that form the Orientals. From left to right - the Arab Sheik, the Negro Servitor, the Egyptian Warrior, the Arab Falconer, the Indian Prince and Spirit of the East, the Lama, the Mohammedan Warrior, the Negro Servitor, the Mongolian Warrior. On they come to join the Nations of the West in the great Court of the Universe. This group is as fine as any group ever seen at an exposition. It rises in its impressive pyramidal height to a climax in the Spirit of the East - a fitting pivot on which to turn the types.

The Alaskan

Frederick Roth, Sculptor

Frederick Roth has fashioned one of the most expressive figures of the Exposition sculpture, but so far above the eye is she and so overshadowed by her companions, that we do not see her in her true light. It is the Alaskan Indian of the Nations of the Occident. She is moving on with her totem poles and blankets. You feel her tug and strain, for her load is growing heavier with each step, and she has yet a long way to go. The modeling of the figure, the foot, the rigid arm and hand, all tell of sustained effort that is truly life-like in expression.

The Lama

Frederick Roth, Sculptor

The priest of Thibet, the Lama, passes on his onward march before you. You do not wonder what race claims him. He is of Mongolian blood. He stolidly passes by, looking neither to the right nor to the left. He is used to being obeyed. His rod of authority tells you that what he says is law. Indifference and arrogance are on his face. His very posture, the very way in which his robe hangs from his shoulders, the position of his nerveless fingers that hold the rod, speak of centuries of indifference to everything except what he thinks.

The Genius of Creation

Daniel Chester French, Sculptor

The Spirit of Creation is a bisexual being, and yet you feel the spirit and not the flesh. Its idealism is of the highest order, being largely produced by the hood drawn far over the face, throwing such deep shadow that personality is lost sight of and only creative force is left. High on a mighty boulder it sits with arms raised. The word has just been spoken and man and woman have come forth - their feet on the serpent, the symbol of wisdom and eternity. At the rear of the group their hands meet as if in mutual dependence, while above appear the Alpha and Omega - "I am the beginning and the end."

The Rising Sun

Adolph Alexander Weinman, Sculptor

This fresh, strong young Sun is about to start on his journey - dawn is soon to break upon the world. With muscles stretched, the wind blowing through his hair, the heavenly joy of the first move expressed upon his face, the vigor of young life pulsating through his body, he will start the chest forward and move those outstretched wings. Let us preserve this glorious figure for our western city. It would so admirably suggest the new light that has been shed upon San Francisco by the Exposition of nineteen hundred and fifteen, as well as the new light occasioned by the opening of the Panama Canal.

Descending Night

Adolph Alexander Weinman, Sculptor

The figure on the page opposite is a beautiful lyric poem. She might be called "A Hymn to the Night." Every line of her figure is musical, every move suggested, rhythmical. Seen at night, she croons you a slumber song. How subtly Mr. Weinman has told you that she comes to fold the world within her wings - to create thru her desire a "still and pulseless world." The muscles are all lax - the head is drooping, the arms are closing in around the face, the wings are folding, the knees are bending - and she too will soon sink to slumber with the world in her arms. What a fine contrast of feeling between the tense young "Sun" and relaxed "Descending Night."

Winter

Furio Piccirilli, Sculptor

Naked Winter stands before you. It is the period of the year when the leaves are of the trees and the bark is splitting. After the activities of autumn man is resting. The fruits have been gathered - the golden apples and the purple grapes - so man's labors have ceased. It is the period of conception. The sower has just cast forth the seed. Mother Earth will nurture the little seed until the cold winter has passed and the warm sunshine comes again to give each clod its "stir of might."

The Portals of El Dorado

Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Sculptor

There was once among the South American tribes a belief that in a certain far-off country lived a king called El Dorado, the Gilded One. He ruled over a region where gold and precious stones were found in abundance. The story influenced a vast number of adventurers who led expeditions to seek the land of golden treasure; but notwithstanding the fact that their searched most carefully and for long periods, they all failed to find it. The idea of the unattainable gave the suggestion to Mrs. Whitney for her fountain. The gold of El Dorado was used as a symbol of all material advantages which we so strongly desire - wealth, power, fame, et cetera.

Panel of the Fountain of El Dorado

Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Sculptor

In the panel are seen men and women in their mad race for the unattainable. Many have had a glimpse of the Gilded One, and are rushing on to pass the mysterious gate behind which the desires of life await them. Some faint by the roadside or stop in their race for the goal to contend or to loiter by the way, but those nearest the El Dorado increase their speed. Beside the gateway that has only just allowed the Gilded One to pass thru are two mortals who have come close to the land of their desires, but only to find the door shut and slaves beside it barring the way. Their strength is expended, their courage gone in the long race for material things.

Youth

Edith Woodman Burroughs, Sculptor

A little figure of innocence and purity in all her virgin loveliness stands before you - the incarnation of all that is fresh and wholesome. She is only a slip of a girl and yet the dignity of her carriage betokens hopeful days for her womanhood later on. Her form is exquisitely moulded. Those little bony shoulders will all too soon fill out and she will bloom into womanhood. The chief charm of this little lady is her simplicity. Mrs. Burroughs uses such beauty of line, such sweet language to tell her story.

The American Pioneer

Solon Hamilton Borglum, Sculptor

Erect, dignified, reflecting on the things that have been, the American Pioneer appears before us, reminding us that to him should be given the glory for the great achievements that have been made on the American Continent. He it was who blazed the trail that others might follow. He endured the hardships, carved the way across the continent, and made it possible for us of today to advance thru his lead. All hail to the white-headed, noble old pioneer who, with gun and axe, pushed his way thru the wilderness; whose gaze was always upward and onward, and whose courage was unfaltering!

Cortez

Charles Niehaus Sculptor

One of the finest equestrians at the Exposition is Cortez by Charles Niehaus. As we look upon the rider on his sumptuously caparisoned horse we are convinced that he is every inch a conqueror. He is represented absolutely motionless - his feet in the stirrups - and yet you feel that he is a man of tremendous action. You also feel his fine reserve, and yet how spirited he is! This is that intrepid spirit that desired the land of the Montezumas. After determined invasions he conquered the country in the early part of the sixteenth century.

The End of the Trail

By James Earle Fraser, Sculptor

"The trail is lost, the path is hid, and winds that blow from out the ages sweep me on to that chill borderland where Time's spent sands engulf lost peoples and lost trails."

- Marion Manville Pope.

One of the strongest works of the Exposition in its intense pathos is this conception of the end of the Indian race. Over the country the Indian has ridden for many a weary day, following the long trail that leads across a continent. A blizzard is on. He has peered to right and left, but alas! the trail is gone and only despair is his. So has it been with the Indian. His trail is now lost and on the edge of the continent he finds himself almost annihilated.

Panel from the Column of Progress

By Isidore Konti, Sculptor

The four panels on the Column of Progress show the different mental conditions of men on their onward march thru life. In the center of the panel stands the man of inspiration - the eagle, bird of inspiration, perched on his shoulder. He goes thru life with upturned face, depending upon his God for strength. Beside him on the right is seen the warrior who wins his way by sheer physical strength. On his left stands the ascetic philosopher, who through constant vigils "hath a lean and hungry look." To the extreme left falteringly steps the man who fears the unknown future; his wife and mother sustain him by spiritual cheer. The figures are in very high relief so that they seem almost human as you gaze upon them.

The Feast of the Sacrifice

Albert Jaegers, Sculptor

In your imagination you see as of old the harvest procession marching around the fields. It is led by the great bulls for the sacrifice to the gods, that the harvest may yield bounteously. On either side of the bulls are the youths and the maids carrying flowered festoons. The long procession passes on and halts before the altar where the bull being sacrificed, the head with its festoons is placed upon the side of the altar. A most decorative group is this Feast of the Sacrifice - brute strength and the graceful form of the maid making a splendid play of line that most satisfactorily charms the eye.

The Joy of Living

Paul Manship, Sculptor

With perfect abandon come these maidens into the Court of the Universe, carrying their festoons of wild roses. They bring to the great festival joy and love of life - a telling addition to all that has been expressed in the court. They savor of old Greek days, these maidens of archaic hair and zigzag draperies. Paul Manship loves the classic which brings with it much of free expression, and he has adopted the archaic style that recalls the figures such as are seen on old Greek vases. No one is more joyous among the sculptors than this man. He has a rarely beautiful gift from the gods.

The Man With the Pick

Ralph Stackpole, Sculptor

An ordinary workman with his pick - and yet how impressed you are with his sincerity. In him is asserted the dignity, the usefulness, the nobility of all labor. He helps to turn the wheels of trade, to further the interests of the world. He works patiently day by day, notwithstanding the fact that those above him reap the benefits. Mr. Stackpole has been most happy in his expression. The broad treatment is thoroughly suitable to just such work as this. There are no accessories employed. The work is absolutely direct.

The Kneeling Figure

Ralph Stackpole, Sculptor

With the love for all that is beautiful in life, in what God has made and in what man has fashioned, the grateful devotee has mounted the steps that lead to the altar at which she offers up her devotion. She bows her head in humble reverence to her God for all that He has given her to enjoy - all that is good, pure, true, beautiful, uplifting. And we onlookers, too, would join the moving throng that bend the knees at the altar of beauty and truth. Across the lagoon we gaze upon the great stillness, and we with her murmur, "Father, I thank Thee."

The Pegasus Panel

Bruno Louis Zimm

There are no reliefs more classically inspiring than are these superb reliefs by Bruno Zimm. The one on the opposite page is of great beauty. The young artist has caught the inspiration of his art - he has bridled Pegasus. Beside him march the Arts - Literature, holding aloft her symbol, the lamp; Sculpture extending in front of her the statuette, a devotee admiring, and Music leading the procession, stilling ever the beasts - a veritable Orpheus. Mr. Zimm has been most successful in the fine working out of his subject in a classical way, for the style of relief work accords well in feeling with the superb classic architecture it decorates.

Primitive Man

Albert Weinert, Sculptor

Long ages past I lived and gave no thought of time or doing aught save going as my fancy took me. Ofttimes I took my bow and arrow and hide me to the mighty forests where herds of Nature's roaming kind served as my food when I required it. Again I followed to the sea where, casting in my net, I drew up myriads of the finny tribe to satisfy my appetite. Oft drew I up such numbers vast that having naught to do but to amuse myself I fed my extra fish the friendly pelican that had become companion in my walks along the shore. A simple man was I with not too many thoughts and only few desires. My body was my foremost daily thought, and little cared I for aught else besides.

Thought

Albert Weinert, Sculptor