Chapter 5

One of the most varied and interesting talents among the younger men of distinction who have exhibited in the Department of Fine Arts is that of Edward Berge of Baltimore. The entire originality and freedom from mannerism with which each subject is met, and the variety of the subjects themselves, are worthy of note, as are also Mr. Berge's singular lightness and fluidity of method. His correctness is apparently unlabored. No small piece has more admirers than this sweet and merry little "Wildflower." A secret of her appeal may lie in the fact that the artist is the father of the model. The little girl, crowned with a wildflower, posed with the pertness of a wayside blossom, her hands extended like pointed leaves, has a roguishness and playful grace that charm. With something of the same humorous whimsy Mr. Berge exhibits a Sundial showing a nude baby, buxom and cuddlesome, embracing a new doll while the old one lies discarded, illustrating the legend, "There is no Time like the Present."

The Boy with the Fish Garden Exhibit, Colonnade

Bela Lyon Pratt, widely esteemed for his vital and imposing serious works, of which a splendid collection here exhibited has been awarded a gold medal, has amused himself and all of us with this jolly little garden piece, "The Boy With the Fish." It is a unique bronze, never to be reproduced or copied. Though hundreds of persons have wished to purchase replicas, no one can ever do so, for the owner stipulated with the sculptor never to allow reproduction. The moulds have been destroyed. But no one can stop the joyous memory in many minds of this spirited little elf, riding a turtle, struggling with his slippery fish and having so much fun about the difficult feat. One of Mr. Pratt's more serious works that is attracting the deserved attention of Exposition visitors is "The Whaleman," a detail of his noble Whaleman's Memorial. This sculptor has done much to encourage individuality and earnestness among the younger men, not only by example but also in his capacity of instructor in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

Young Diana Garden Exhibit, Colonnade

Janet Scudder, an American artist whose work has been as highly honored in France as in her native land, is known chiefly for her poetic and happy expressions of the out-of-door spirit. Her fountains and garden pieces are small and sportive but intensely sincere and never trivial. She has a pagan sense of natural imagery and a deep feeling for childhood. Her finish is delicate and perfect. The "Young Diana," here illustrated, girlish, with singularly natural untrammeled grace - slender, beautiful and novel in conception - was awarded honorable mention in the Paris Salon of 1911. The young goddess of the chase, the moon and of maidens, is presented as still more of a maid than a goddess, glad with the freedom of girlhood, unconscious of her Olympian inheritance. Miss Scudder has received the distinction of having one of her fountains purchased by the Metropolitan Museum in New York. This is the Frog Fountain which, loaned by that Museum, appears in the Palace of Fine Arts. Her "Little Lady of the Sea," also here exhibited, received notable consideration in the Paris Salon of 1913. She is the holder of a silver medal awarded by the present Exposition.

Young Pan Garden Exhibit, Colonnade

One of the charms of the Exposition lies in the fact that the long rainless summer and beautiful plant-life of California permit the garden pieces to be displayed out of doors in the setting desired for them by their sculptors. This little Pan of Janet Scudder's, for instance, is far happier in his appropriate mass of foliage than if he were inside of a gallery. "Young Pan," a garden figure, is witty, elfin, very engaging. He is a seaside Pan instead of the woodland dweller usually portrayed. His foot is - rather recklessly one would think, were this not a magical, superhuman being - placed heel-down upon the back of a great crab. A pretty pedestal base, with sea-shell decoration, supports the baby god. This base, by the way, Miss Scudder attributes as the work of Laurence Grant White. Pan is enjoying the music of the two long pipes he blows-playing one of the unplaced wild lilts of nature, we may be sure. This sense of enjoyment and his debonair little swagger are festive and delightful. His mischievous gaiety communicates itself to the beholder. This humorous quality appears in another merry little god by the same sculptor, her "Flying Cupid," close at hand.

Fighting Boys Garden Exhibit, Colonnade

Another evidence of the charm of outdoor installation is seen in Miss Scudder's Fountain of the Fighting Boys, so beautifully placed, with the waters in actual play, in the Peristyle Walk about the Fine Arts Palace. The original of this little fountain is owned by the Art Institute of Chicago. There can be no doubt that this fight is without rancor; the faces of the cherubic contestants are so gay and good-natured that only the determined little tug of the hair, the business-like pressure of chubby knee upon knee, the uncertain possession of the big fish that is the cause of contention, makes us see that a battle is raging. The boys fight merrily, evidently enjoying both the contest and the downpour of water that complicates it. An unexpected accidental beauty has been added to this and all the Exposition fountains. Some colorful substance in the water that plays upon them has given soft touches of the same rich ochre tone that appears in the columns. This increases the effectiveness and takes away the appearance of boldness or newness, substituting a weather-beaten and permanent aspect. When long spires of flowers are in bloom and reflect their beauty in this little fountain pool, the gayety and loveliness of the spot are entrancing.

Duck Baby Garden Exhibit, Colonnade

The contagious mirth of "The Duck Baby," a garden figure by Edith Barretto Parsons, is irresistible. 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. In the presence of so much that is weighty and powerful, this popularity of the "Duck Baby" is significant and touching indication of the world's hunger for what is cheerful and mirth provoking. Another well-liked and winsome work with a chubby baby figure at its center is "The Bird Bath" by Caroline Risque, in which a lovable baby, with an expression of the tenderest sympathy, holds a little bird to his breast.

Muse Finding the Head of Orpheus Garden Exhibit, Colonnade

Under the branches of a low tree the poetic group by Edward Berge, "Muse Finding the Head of Orpheus," a white marble group of superior elegance and texture, arrests the passerby. A Muse kneels, drooping in exquisite pathos over the head of Orpheus found in the waves. The sculptor has chosen the tragic side of the Orphean myth. The son of Apollo and the Muse Calliope, whose heaven-taught lyre charmed men and beasts, melted rocks and even opened the gates of Erebus, had failed to win from death his bride, Eurydice, lost to him for the second time. As he wandered disconsolate, the Thracian bacchantes wooed him in vain. Maddened by failure and by their bacchanal revels, they called upon Bacchus to avenge, and hurled a javelin upon him. But the music charmed the weapon, until the wild women drowned it with their cries. Then they dismembered the singer and threw him to the waves; but the very fragments were melodious and reached the Muses, who buried them where the nightingale still sings "Eurydice." So runs the allegory; even drowned by earthly clamors, slain and torn by wanton hands, the song of Poetry continues, the weeping Muses save.

Diana Garden Exhibit, South Lagoon

In a setting of surpassing appropriateness and beauty, installed high amid the tall shrubbery as if emerging from the edge of one of her own forests, the huntress Diana points the arrow she is about to let fly. This rendering by Haig Patigian, who made the heroic Powers and other decorations on Machinery Hall, is simple, classic, pure, imaginative, poetic in purpose and in effect. He has softened the traditional coldness of the goddess by a warmer humanity without injuring the sense of proud aloofness. The Maiden goddess of the Hunt bears in her hand the crescent bow, its lines here strongly suggestive of those of the young moon, of which it is the symbol and this goddess the deity. Mr. Patigian exhibits in the Colonnade a companion piece, "Apollo, the Sun God," twin brother of Diana. A vivid figure of manly grace, Apollo is presented in the guise of the sun of the morning. He kneels and shoots an arrow upward; the long, pleasing curve of his bow suggests the outline of the sun above the horizon as Apollo releases his first bright shaft of light.

Eurydice Garden Exhibit, Colonnade

This "Eurydice," by Furio Piccirilli, pictures the nymph as standing against the background of an echoing rock, listening to the distant strains of the magic lyre of her lover, Orpheus. Orpheus had been taught to play by Apollo, his father, and could enchant the animate and inanimate world by his music. So he charmed the nymph, Eurydice; but Hymen, god of marriage, refused to prophesy happiness at their nuptials and soon Eurydice, in escaping from a pursuer, trod upon a snake, was bitten and died. Orpheus' sorrowful music moved all the earth to pity. Even Pluto and the keepers of Erebus relented, allowed the musician to descend into their forbidden realm and lead Eurydice back to life, provided he should not turn backward to gaze upon her until they reached the world of mortals. But the lover could not resist the desire to assure himself of her presence, looked, and lost her forever. Furio Piccirilli, who made this marble, is the sculptor who has graced the Exposition with the four Fountains of the Seasons in the Court of that name. For this "Eurydice" and his other small group, "Mother and Child," he has taken a silver medal.

Wood Nymph Garden Exhibit, Colonnade

Isadore Konti, from whose hand came also the inspiring, panels at the base of the Column of Progress, described in a preceding page, is the sculptor of this pretty "Hamadryad." The Dryads and Hamadryads lived, according to old legend, within the trunks of trees and perished with their homes. So it was an impious act to destroy a tree without cause. This nymph of the woods has emerged from the tree-trunk home or from some rocky fastness and taken the urn of a naiad, a sister nymph of brook and fountain, to give drink to the gentle, confident fawn that is her charge. The little animal is lapping the stream that flows from the overturned vase. This study in white marble follows tradition and is regarded chiefly for its gentle grace and careful tooling. It is harmoniously composed and has a beautiful surface. Mr. Konti's varying moods are, represented in the Fine Arts collection by a number of works, each revealing a different intention - from the pretty and restful, like this, to the large and stirring.

L'Amour Garden Exhibit, Colonnade

There are few more complete examples of delicacy of feeling and of refined, caressing perfection of tooling than this exquisite marble group, "L'Amour," by Evelyn Beatrice Longman. The purity of its emotion, the tenderness and fidelity of its poignant pose, are surpassed only by the marvel of surface finish. 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. She won the competition for the doors of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, for which there were many distinguished aspirants. She presents Love in the group under discussion as a rarefied and inspiring emotion in which the physical and spiritual commingle and "sense helps soul" as well as "soul helps sense."

An Outcast Garden Exhibit, Colonnade

This epic figure, "An Outcast," compelling by its earnestness and the tragedy of its motive idea, is handled with firmness, assurance and a perfect sense of volume and sculptural mass values. It is exhibited by Attilio Piccirilli, the artist who designed the Maine Memorial in New York City. The appeal of "An Outcast" is too direct to need any illumination. Its frank bigness and physical power and tenseness, so suggestive and so desperate, are Rodinesque. But though the work is influenced by that master's school and thought, it is by no means a copy of his method. This sculptor has a number of interesting groups in the exhibit palaces and has been granted a gold medal. The dejected and desolate Outcast, so huge and so tragic, is in sharp contrast with the quaint and fanciful "Fawn's Toilet," by the same hand, at the entrance to the Colonnade. Attilio and Furio Piccirilli, whose work has been here noticed, are brothers, members of a family of sculptors.

The Sower Garden Exhibit, Colonnade

One of the most useful services of a great Exposition, especially as it relates to the world of art, is its service in bringing to the attention of the public the power of new and rising stars on the horizon of achievement. Albin Polasek has made his work generally felt at this Exposition, where he received a silver medal. He is one of the most talented sculptors of the American Academy at Rome. He won honorable mention in the Paris Salon in 1913, and the Prix de Rome in 1910. He was the holder of the Cresson scholarship. His "Sower" was the culminating work of his early labors, the product of his final year at Rome, in which year a heroic figure is required of every student. It caused the critics to prophesy for this sculptor the future that is developing. Mr. Polasek's work has the same unassailable rigor of truth as that of Charles Grafly, who was his teacher. "The Sower" ennobles an humble theme. It has sweep and life and distinction of bearing. In "The Girl of the Roman Compagna," close at hand in this Colonnade, the sculptor shows his equal power in a softer theme. The Roman girl is a well-poised and beautiful expression of the spirit of old Rome in the days of her grand simplicity.

The Bison Garden Exhibit, South Approach

These mighty monarchs of the plains, now disinherited by human progress, the American bisons, are here more than portrayed; they are realized. Their essential characteristics, their strong mass, bulky without clumsiness, are made present and convincing in these two statues by A. Phimister Proctor, a master of animal sculpture. There is good reason for the living and sharp aspect of these plaster models. They are not copies of the permanent statues; they are the sculptor's own original plasters from which the permanent pieces were cast. A number of Mr. Proctor's animal studies stand in the great zoological parks of our nation. He does not idealize or humanize the beasts he depicts; but he understands them and reverses the underlying life that gives them their racial and personal individuality. Partly his Canadian love of the wild, partly a technician's delight in mastering this difficult phase of art, has caused a lifelong devotion to animal studies. They are not photographic, but combine the qualities of sculptural beauty with rugged and imposing freedom. A varied and stimulating collection of Mr. Proctor's work, exhibited at the Exposition, has won a gold medal. It includes the famous "Princeton Tiger."

The Scout Garden Exhibit, South Lagoon

Cyrus Edwin Dallin has devoted many years and much of his high talent to the poetry and beauty of the American Indian. He says that this Scout is to be the last of his long series of Indian studies, and he believes it to be the best of them all. Surely it has an exalted beauty and is a noble example of Mr. Dallin's firm, finished, accurate method, perfection of restraint and free grace of modeling. It has a clear and beautiful directness that is almost Greek in feeling. Those who do not believe in the picturesqueness and dignity of the Indian as celebrated in these bronzes, need only to have seen the photographs in the exhibit of the Indian Memorial booth in the Palace of Education. Some of the chiefs there shown have the dignity of Caesar and the knightly splendor of heroic periods. Copies of almost all the Dallin Indians and other of his notable works appear in the Palace of Fine Arts, where Mr. Dallin is a gold medalist; They include the famous "Appeal to the Great Spirit," which stands before the Boston Museum of Art.

The Thinker Exhibit, Court of French Pavilion

It is a satisfaction that at the entrance to the Pavilion of France should stand this great work of the master sculptor of our age. This is a replica of "Le Penseur" (The Thinker), placed before the doors of the Pantheon in Paris. Paul Gsell says of it: "Before us, the Thinker, his fist beneath his chin, his toes clutching the rock upon which he sits, bends his back beneath the overpowering weight of a meditation that surpasses the endurance of the human spirit." Here, tremendous, rugged, primitive human strength at its highest power suffers under the first great grapple of the human mind with problems of the unknowable universe. It is majestic, true, an expression of our age; it is everlasting art. Rodin kept this replica outdoors for a long time, thinking the rigor of the elements helpful to its finish. "The Thinker" and other Rodins in the French Pavilion are loaned by Mrs. A. B. Spreckels of San Francisco. Americans and American museums have long appreciated this master of whom Octave Mirbeau says: "Not only is he the highest and most glorious artistic conscience of our time, but his name burns henceforth like a luminous date in the history of art."

Earth Fruit Pickers, Court of Ages

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 massing 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 mass from a kiln. It is a rich cloud, colorful with iridescent metallic lustres. 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 plentitude, 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 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. 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 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. 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 passing 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 classic 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 title, "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.