Chapter 6

Art Crowned by Time 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. She is surrounded by her attendants, the Useful Crafts: Weaving, with her distaff; Glasswork, 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 goddess 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 goddess 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 goddess, 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 Canal. 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," noble and timely tributes to the Workers who made the canal. 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 title 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 Classic 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 assigned 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 illustrated 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

The great panels of the Golden Arts alternate, in the ceiling of the Rotunda of Fine Arts, with the Four Golds of California. All of these panels so tone their brilliancy into the great sweep of the ceiling that the beholder gets a sense of the beauty of the whole rather than that of any part. This arching, floating unity of the ceiling is an admirable example of the self-control of the muralist. The Golden Arts are interpreted by symbolic groups including a larger number of figures than The Four Golds. They are entitled "Inspirations of All Art," "Ideals in Art," "The Birth of European Art," and "Oriental Art," here illustrated as typical. In this, against the soft but sparkling background of bright sky and clouds that supports all of the panels, are set with much verve the historical, legendary and romantic inspirations of Oriental art. The group is dominated by a contest between an eagle and a knight mounted upon a dragon - based upon a legend of the Ming dynasty. Fugi, the sacred mountain, is in the distance; the sacred dog attends the Chinese hero in the foreground. A beautiful Japanese woman - indicating the inspiration of romance, East and West - sits among flowers. The space is filled in a manner appropriately and charmingly suggestive of Oriental composition.

The Arts of Peace Netherlands Pavilion

The Pavilion of The Netherlands is inevitably reminiscent of the Peace Palace of The Hague, by natural association of ideas and because of the spirit of its central mural painting, "The Arts of Peace." It is therefore an interesting fact that Hermann Rosse, the artist who painted this imposing work, and, indeed, designed the entire interior decoration of the pavilion, was also muralist and decorator of the Palace of Peace. The pavilion walls and hangings - steel blue, olive green and silver grey, relieved by quaint conventional stencils of orange trees and tulips and severe shields of the four divisions of the kingdom - has a broad, cool puritanism that lends itself well to the rich depth of the painting. Holland holds high the image of Peace, surrounded by the peace-nurtured arts and industries on whose support all human welfare rests. Among them stand not only representatives of trades and crafts, with their symbols and implements, but also the Art of Motherhood and the Art of Play shown by a happy child. Ships of all ages in side-panels and background tell of the maritime history of Holland which so largely and peacefully colonized the world. Beneath the painting is a comforting and inspiring legend.

Penn's Treaty with the Indians Pennsylvania Building

The Pennsylvania Building was designed with the patriotic purpose of enshrining the Liberty Bell. The Bell stands in a loggia between two wings, the architectural motif following that of Independence Hall. On the walls of the loggia are two mural lunettes of distinction by Edward Trumbull of Pittsburg. Their deep glowing color and massive grouping mark Mr. Trumbull a worthy pupil of his master, Frank Brangwyn. "Penn's Treaty with the Indians," here given, shows William Penn and the foremost of his shipmates on "The Welcome" making with Chief Tamanend and his braves the Treaty of Shackamaxon in 1683, the treaty that never was broken. The plainness of the kindly Friends, the barbaric splendor of the Indians, the deep green of the overarching Treaty Elm and the lovely typical Pennsylvania landscape have enduring attraction. The panel is in contrast with Mr. Trumbull's vigorous and burning modern picture, "The Steel Workers," on the opposite wall. In the reception room of this building are seven delightful small panels by Charles J. Taylor, showing the early life of Pennsylvania villages. They are painted in the quaint style of old colonial decorations and have charm, humor, naivete and beauty too pleasing to be overlooked.

Return from the Crusade Court, Italian Pavilion

The courts and palaces of Italy, with their appearance of age and their remote, sheltered calm, present an education in artistic reserve and decorative uses of space that all who linger may learn. They represent four centuries of architecture, of three historic types. The lovely piazzetta with its antique well is the center of beauty. On one of its walls is what appears to be an ancient mural, soft, flat, with that faded, velvety coloring associated with age. It was recently painted by Mathilde Festa-Piacentini, in the ancient manner to harmonize with the court. It represents "The Return from the Crusade" of one noble Pandolfo, and bears date and description in Latin. Quaint old-time stiffness and weather-worn coloring combine with modern correctness and fluency. The young artist is the wife of the architect of the pavilion and has won a silver medal in the Italian section of Fine Arts. Below this lunette stands a bronze copy of an antique David with the marble head of Goliath. Other interesting murals appear in Italy's pavilion, by Pierretto Banco and Bruno Ferrari, son of the sculptor, Ettore Ferrari.

The Riches of California Tea Room, California Building

The tea-room of the Auxiliary to the Woman's Board, in the California Building, was decorated by Florence Lundborg, a Californian whose work has won consideration in this country and in France. In her large mural, "The Riches of California," one of the most extensive ever painted by a woman, and in the supplementary medallions she has expressed the generous abundance of California's fruitage. Feeling a similarity between copious California and Sicily, where she has lived and painted, the artist chose for her text a line from Theocritus describing that country: 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. The Descriptive titles have been written by Stella G. S. Perry. Edited by Paul Elder. Published by Paul Elder and Company and seen through their Tomoye Press under the typographical direction of H. A. Funke, in the city of San Francisco during the month of October, Nineteen Hundred and Fifteen