Sculpture of the Exposition Palaces and Courts   By: Juliet Helena Lumbard James (1864-)

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