Chapter 3

As we look across the Court of the Universe towards the Nations of the West, the vastness of the Court and the commanding effect of these great groups of the nations impress us. The high columns of the Rising and Setting Sun fountains, the monumental groups of the "Elements," the classic "Music" and "Dance" of heroic size, are merged in the splendid sweep of the Court; the dignified circle of sculptured light-standards is dwarfed by the perspective. But these mighty processional masses of the Nations still dominate the whole. This western group, companion to the Nations of the East, centers about the prairie schooner, which balances the elephant in the opposing composition, and the girlish figure of a young pioneer mother, poetically called "The Mother of Tomorrow." Accompanying her are represented the nations that have contributed to our American civilization. The group is by the same sculptors in collaboration who made the group of eastern nations. The four equestrians, the Latin-American, the French-Canadian, the Anglo-American, the Indian and the trudging Squaw are by Leo Lentelli; the pedestrian figures, the bowed Alaskan women, the German and the Italian are by F. G. R. Roth, who made also the oxen and the prairie schooner. The Mother and the crowning symbolic group of "Enterprise" and the "Hopes of the Future" are by A. Stirling Calder, who is responsible for the general composition.

Enterprise Detail, Nations of the West

The prairie schooner that forms the axis of the Nations of the West is crowned by an animated, imaginative group so perfectly co-ordinated with the realistic main composition that it causes no sense of discord. This group of "Enterprise" and the "Hopes of the Future" by A. Stirling Calder, forms the apex of the pyramidal construction. 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; two boys, one white, the other, negro. These sound the note of deep humanity that underlies the poetry of the conception. This group of the Western nations has an appropriate sub-title, "The Pioneers."

Dance Balustrade, Court of the Universe

At the top of the longitudinal stairways in the Court of the Universe are Paul Manship's "Music" and "Dance." These are typical examples of that sculptor's power to combine classic restraint, sculptural dignity and grace of line with complete freedom and untrammeled ease of method. They express a musical mood, supplying the honor of musical art to the otherwise incomplete celebration of man's achievements. In "Dance," here reproduced, the beautiful movement of the figures and the garlands, full in volume but light in weight, are superlatively well presented. A glimpse of the companion group, "Music," can be had in the plate devoted to the Nations of the East. In this are two classic male figures, the Composer and the Musician. One holds an open scroll from which the other reads as he pauses in touching the strings of a lyre. A number of distinguished exhibits by Mr. Manship, showing all phases of his art, appear in the Palace of Fine Arts where he has been awarded the honor of a gold medal.

The Rising Sun Fountain, Court of the Universe

"The Rising" and "The Setting Sun," by Adolph A. Weinman, stand high against the heavens on tall shafts that rise from fountain bowls. They are inspired with a sort of rapturous imagery and they so inspire the beholder. "The Rising Sun," a youth with outstretched wings, a figure suggestive of gladness, hope and the dawn of high adventure, is a fitting symbol of the sunrise. He seems "a-tiptoe for a flight" on the summit of his column; his profile against the sky is superb. On the opposite column "The Setting Sun," a young woman with pensive face, shaded by her hair and drooping wings, sinks to rest. These figures stand on translucent shafts that are pillars of light in the evening. They bear garlanded capitals and rise from double fountain bowls bound together by rising and falling jets and sheets of water. The column bases are finished with beautiful friezes, one symbolic of the Sun of Truth, the other of the Peace of Night. Winged mermen support the upper basin; sea-creatures gambol in the lower.

Column of Progress In the Forecourt of the Stars

One of the most serious and thoughtful works of the Exposition sculpture is the Column of Progress which faces the bay at the end of the Forecourt of Stars. This column represents with direct imagery the upward progress of man. The shaft itself is sculptured with conventionalized waves in a gradually ascending spiral, upon which a repeated vessel, the Ship of Life, sails upward, indicating the slow upward rise of our life. The lower panels, significant of man's endeavors, are described on the following page. The crowning group, "The Adventurous Bowman," noble in intent and in sculptural power, is from the hand of Hermon A. MacNeil. At the highest point of man's achievement, stands this Adventurous Bowman, the super-hero, the leader, the man with insight into the future, who shoots his arrow into the Sun of Truth. Behind him the next man supports and is protected, by him. Beside him kneels the woman with his reward in her hands. The frieze beneath the group shows the Burden-Bearers on whose shoulders the hero stands - an arresting thought; reminder of the true values in modern life.

Frieze Base, Column of Progress

The four panels at the base of the Column of Progress sympathetically express its exalted idealism. They are by Isadore Konti, in richly wrought high relief. The play of color values, the planes of light and shade, are handled with mastery. These four panels indicate that the thought, the dream, the aspiration, the dutiful devotion underlying all the labors of the common day are the source of their progress. One panel shows the higher toils of the mind, as in the arts and statesmanship. In the center of this stands the inventor or leader of thought with the eagle of aspiration above him. Another shows the motives of love and pain and prayer and the central power of labor as movers of the world. Still another, which is shown here, expresses the humbler toils of mankind; even they, it says, progress upward through the thinker who pauses in their midst to dream. The other panel here pictured represents the triumph of man's endeavors, and the successes that spur to greater achievements.

Primitive Ages Altar Tower, Court of Ages

The Tower of Ages, in the Court of Ages, represents Evolution. The lower group, here illustrated, presents "The Early Ages." This shows the development of man from his physical beginnings among the creatures of the ooze up through the cave man and the Stone Age to the growth of the family ideal out of which sprang a higher civilization. The second group shows "The Middle Ages." Its three figures are the Monk, the Armored Bowman, and, at the apex, the Crusader, the highest expression of idealism, of that period. "The Present Age" crowns the whole, upon an altar sits the Woman Enthroned and Enshrined. Her children, the future, are at her feet. Their finger-tips touch a symbol, the Cosmos. One bears a book, the other the wheel of a machine. Figures of Mutation flank the central composition. The sculpture on the Tower of Ages is by Chester A. Beach, whose emancipated and vigorous manner is exactly suited to the presentment of these strong ideas.

Primitive Man Arcade Finial, Court of Ages

In accord with the basic idea of the beginning, change and upward growth of the human race and its emotional life that are emphasized in this eastern court, rough, plastic figures of "Primitive Man" and "Primitive Woman" surmount the elaborate arcade. They harmonize with the conception and treatment of the, group on the Tower of Ages. They are the work of Albert Weinert, the sculptor who made the much-admired "Miner" in the portal niches of the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy, and "Philosophy" on Administration Avenue. He presents these parents of civilization at the transition stage when they are still savage but have become physically upright and begun to develop the elementary glimmering of intellectual and emotional consciousness. They stand as finials on the continued columns that pierce the arcade wall and emphasize the arches. Dividing the spaces above them, on a higher level, are repeated finials of a pert chanticleer, emblem of the east, the dawn and immortality.

Fountain of Earth Central Group, Court of Ages

Here is one of the most majestic and imposing enrichments of contemporary art developed by the Exposition. The Fountain of Earth by Robert I. Aitken has compelled the attention of the world of art and won the gold medal for sculpture of the year offered by the Architectural League. In this fountain the idea of man's evolution takes a subtler and more profound significance. In general, it shows the development and growth of love from its lower to higher forms and the upward effect of that spiritualization upon the life of the earth. In the secondary group, a prelude and epilogue to the main composition, on the prow of the Ship of Earth are grouped the loves, greeds, passions, griefs and spiritual cravings of man and woman, who come and go from the Unknown to the Unknowable. The great arms of Destiny, pushing and pointing, giving and taking, guide the way. Between the four panels of Life on the Earth, stand the Hermes, milestones of ancient Rome, here used as milestones upon the road of Time. Sea-creatures indicate our origin in the waters. The description of the panels follows on succeeding pages.

Survival of the Fittest A Panel, Fountain of Earth

The central fountain shows the globe of Earth revolving in the Infinite. 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. They follow in a natural sequence as regards their deep and arresting symbolism. The order is, first, the Southern, then the Western, Northern and Eastern panels as the fountain lies. The panel here illustrated is third in the sequence. In the first panel are shown the motive Elemental Emotions - Vanity, Sexual Love and mere Physical Parenthood without enlightenment. After the next milestone is the second panel called "Natural Selection." This presents the approach of the Strong Man; little wings beside his head indicate the dawn of Intellect. Women turn to him attracted by his qualities. Of the men whom they have deserted, one resigns in sorrow; the other prepares to contend the the issue. In the next phase, here illustrated, "The Survival of the Fittest," the struggle has begun. The following pages resume the story.

Lesson of Life 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. In the last and noblest panel, called "The Lesson of Life," we see the spiritualized and intellect-guided emotions. A helmeted man and pure-browed woman gaze tenderly in each other's eyes. Youth, full of impulse and fire, stays to listen to the voice of Reason. The lover keeps in touch with the guiding memory of the Mother. And the cycle is completed from animal to mental toward the higher foundation of life upon the earth. Seldom has more exaltation of thought or intensity of feeling been infused, without mawkishness or exaggeration, into a work of art. The Fountain of Earth, is deeply interpretive of the trend of modern thought.

Helios Separate Group, Fountain of Earth

On the wall of the basin of the Fountain of Earth, is a subsidiary group called "Helios, the Sun." It is a decorative point of finish and is also symbolic. 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. The rapid and stable growth of Robert I. Aitken, sculptor of the Fountain of Earth, is of particular interest to San Francisco, the city of his birth, and the site of several of his earlier efforts.

Water Sprites Base of Column, Court of Ages

The "Water Sprite Columns" in the Court of Ages bring the somber symbolism of this court back to the gay spirit of festival. The sprites are the work of Leo Lentelli; they have a quaint elfin quality that is very engaging. The amusing and lovely group seated about the base of the column have a certain chic habit of pointing elbows, wrists and ankles that lends an unworldly attraction. 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.

A Daughter of the Sea North Aisle, Court of Ages

In this "Daughter of the Sea," Sherry E. Fry has given us a nymph who typifies the life within the watery sphere where it is deep and broad. She has the robustness, volume and vigor of the great high seas. She is deep-bosomed and broad of thigh and stands as though storms and monsters had no terrors, as one accustomed to breast and conquer the waves. Water creatures supplement her, but she seems made on too goddess-like a scale to disport herself with them. It is interesting to contrast this nymph of the fathomless trough of the sea with the arch and playful Water Sprites of the froth and ripple, on the columns within the Court of Ages. This statue is placed in the Forecourt of Ages, facing the Marina, the court that is designed to graduate the richness of the larger court toward the more severe facades on the Marina. Sherry E. Fry's work, in a less rugged vein, appears upon Festival Hall.

The Fairy Finial Figure, Italian Towers

The gay and gracefully ethereal towers on corner pavilions at the entrance to the Court of Palms and the Court of Flowers, sometimes called The Kelham Towers for their architect, are pointed by a long and pleasing slope of wings. Carl Gruppe's slender Fairy stands upon them, poised, as though just alighted. This finial figure has a pretty wistfulness that suggests the whimsical firefly fairies of Peter Pan more than the conventional gauzy creatures of ordinary fairy tale, and is more like a female counterpart of Shakespeare's "delicate Ariel" who sucks "where the bee sucks" than any other creature of fancy. The curving antennae increase this impression. She carries in her hand a whirling star. The silhouette of the figure is attractive and the halo of sky behind the head framed within the circle of the wings, lends a distinct charm. It is pleasant to have this symbol of imagination over the Exhibit palaces, especially in the Courts of Palms and Flowers, more suited to the fairy feeling than, perhaps, any other spot upon the grounds.

Flower Girl Niche, Court of Flowers

The perfect balance of this "Flower Girl" by A. Stirling Calder, saved from any hint of rigidity by the graceful curves of its extended lines, makes it an admirable wall decoration. Harmony with the wall-niche in which it appears is part of its allurement. The sculptor has modestly sought to merge the figure's loveliness into that of the Court and has succeeded in increasing both. "The Flower Girl" appears in outer niches of the attic cloister of the court bearing her name, the Court of Flowers. A light garlanded mantle falls like a petal from her shoulders, the floating edge following the line of the nymph's divided hair, so that the maiden seems more like a flower itself than a flowerbearer. However, she has the sculptural solidity necessary for her location and resembles not some frail, wind-blown blossom, but the robust and buxom California blooms that flourish in the court below her.

Beauty and the Beast Fountain Detail, Court of Flowers

The Fountain of Beauty and the Beast in the Court of Flowers accentuates the feeling of gentle fancy and the spirit of the fairytale that are the mood of this and its companion court. It is by Edgar Walter, a distinguished San Franciscan; he has given us a delightful, playful and tender rendition of the old tale that has held the imagination of the world since it first appeared in Straparola's "Piacevoli Notti" in 1550. Since it was popularized by Madame le Prince de Beaumont in 1757, the story has been translated into every language. The fountain shows, with great restraint and refinement of handling, one of Beauty's ministrations to the sick monster shortly before his transformation. It is subject to the symbolism that may be read into the story itself; but the note of fairy magic is the essential theme of the fountain. Quaint fairy pipers, the unseen musicians of the Monster's Palace, stand about the pedestal. The lower basin bears a frieze of charmed or enchanted beasts, very lightly handled and not insistent. Their idea is continued in the court by the gryphon decorations and Albert Laessle's wreath-bearing Friendly Lions, at the entrances to the palaces.

Caryatid Court of Palms

The Court of Palms is restful, meditative, a place where the feeling of magical allure takes a deeper, more subjective character. It might well be called the Court of Pools, for two, quiet pools, one circular, one oblong except for its concave side to hold the other, fill the floor of its sunken garden and reflect its pensive as well as its physical charms. The Caryatids repeated throughout this court are the joint work of John Bateman and A. Stirling Calder. They inject into the court its fairy spirit without disturbing its repose. They are Puckish, bat-winged, goblin-horned fairy creatures of an eerie beauty, elfin, roguish and quaint. Their quality is enhanced by the beautiful color that has been applied to them, to the garlanded panels between them, to the cartouches over the archways and, indeed, to all the decorations on the walls and columns of this court. This richness and depth of color leads the eye to the three splendid mural lunettes in the arches. These are Childe Hassam's "Fruit and Flowers" and Charles Holloway's "Pursuit of Pleasure," at the entrances to the palaces, and Arthur Mathews' "Victory of Culture Over Force" in the portal that leads to the Court of the Four Seasons and frames a vista of the bay.

The Harvest Court of the Four Seasons

The Court of the Four Seasons, classic in spirit, finished and chaste in execution, required a perfect harmony of mass, line and feeling in the sculpture that was to embellish it. It was the further task of the sculptors and mural painters to give the court its meaning, to illustrate the idea of the earth's abundance and the fruitful beneficence of the seasons that is implied in the title of the court. That they have nobly succeeded in this difficult double achievement is an actual triumph. "The Harvest," by Albert Jaegers, crowning the half-dome, is a magnificent bit of architectural sculpture. It seems a faithful part of the surface it enriches; its outlines are faultlessly balanced; although its sides are varied, its mass is superbly centered. 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. The group is bound more closely to the half-dome by a graceful garland applied to the wall-surface Mr. Jaegers has further illustrated the traditional idea of Harvest Home festivals by the vigorous groups, "The Feast of Sacrifice," which adorn the huge pylons of this court.

Rain Court of the Four Seasons

On separate columns flanking the Half-Dome of the Harvest, Albert Jaegers has given us classic presentations of the two great resources of nature that bring the blessing of rich harvest. These are symbolic figures, "Rain," here pictured, and "Sunshine." In "Rain," the nymph of the Earth, holds upward a shell, her cup, in grateful expectation of the beneficent rainfall, while she shields her head from the storm with a cloud-like mantle. On the other column, that of "Sunshine," the nymph shades her head with an arching palm-branch, though she looks up in happy appreciation to the welcome glow of the sun. As in his "Harvest" and "The Feast of Sacrifice," Mr. Jaegers has here given with perfect restraint a sense of generous weight, of richness, profusion and mass that are highly satisfying in their artistic aspect and are valuable interpreters of the message of the Court. August Jaegers, a younger brother of this sculptor, has embellished the arcade of this court with an attractive repeated attic figure. In voluminous, decorative draperies this female figure stands between two young orange trees, her arms about them - significant of the harvest of California.

Fountain of Spring Court of the Four Seasons

The seasons of the year are expressed in the Court that honors them by four wall-fountains, the work of Furio Piccirilli. The sculptured groups are set in colonnaded niches, against a warm background of deep pastel pink wall. The water flows over a cascade stairway. The floors of this and of the basin are painted pale Oriental green, giving a luminous beauty to the water, especially at night in the glow of hidden lighting. The planting about the niches and the trailing green on the walls are component parts of the fountains' beauty. The sculptor has felt the Seasons in their gradual changes, as found in California, rather than in the usual sharp divisions. He has infused them with a wistful sadness, however, as at the passing of time. In "Spring," here illustrated, for example, we feel something more than the Youth, Flowers, Love and Promise obvious in the composition - something tender and romantic but by no means gay.

Fountain of Winter Court of the Four Seasons