American Masters of Sculpture: Being Brief Appreciations of Some American Sculptors and of Some Phases of Sculpture in AmericaCaffin, Charles H. (Charles Henry)
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American Masters of Sculpture: Being Brief Appreciations of Some American Sculptors and of Some Phases of Sculpture in America
Caffin, Charles H. (Charles Henry)
Sculptors -- United States
No less turmoil surrounds the Greeley monument in Newspaper Row and,
outwardly at any rate, of a less savoury character. Moreover, its
pedestal abuts upon a narrow sidewalk, and the figure, seated in an
armchair, has the unhelpful background of a large plate-glass window. It
is itself, too, of shambling build, uncouthly costumed, the large, round
face, oddly fringed with a rim of whiskers. The legs are wide apart; one
arm rests on the back of the chair, the other lies upon the thigh, its
hand holding a sheet of paper; the round shoulders droop forward, and
the head is inclined so as to bring into view the flat, dome-like
skull. Yes, the whole composition is the very reverse of what we usually
understand by statuesque, and thousands pass and repass it daily without
any recognition, so occupied are they in threading their way through the
swarm of loud-lunged sellers of chronic “specials.” Yet if you will step
back into the roadway, at the risk of being demolished by trolley-cars
or wagons full of mile-long rolls of paper, you cannot fail to be
impressed by the very strangeness of the figure. How full of character
it is! Sitting back almost in a heap, pondering some point, the figure
yet suggests that it is about to rise and put its resolve into action,
so remarkable is the mixture of downrightedness and alacrity. It is
indeed a representation of character truly original and of a convincing
force, that bears the stamp of genius. Let us place it in our respect
alongside of Saint-Gaudens’s “Peter Cooper,” as equally a triumph of art
over uncompromising material, and, indeed, along similar lines of
unflinching acceptance of the actual facts of the problem, and of broad,
ample sympathy with nobility, though it does not lie upon the surface.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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